Resilience
by RLD Flame-point Callie-co
Summary: Resurgence sequel: Peter, Bella, and Claire destroy Pinehearst, then return to Forks to face new challenges including an unstable Elle, Bella's and Claire's evolving powers, and a vengeful new vampire coven. Cullens included. *Edited 6/10/2013. This concludes my reworking of this series*
1. Sunset

**Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes, Twilight, or my furry feline companions – the cats, in fact, own me…**

**This first chapter, I'll readily admit, is relatively short and has nothing to do with Bella and Peter; instead it's an introduction to this story's Edward-centric subplot, just because I haven't written a single thing about how he fits in till now. I apologize for taking so long to post this, thank all you wonderful readers VERY much for your patience, and promise to get back to the B/P vs. Arthur crisis in the next chap.**

**In the meantime, please tell me what you think of Edward's entrance into my AU-verse. **

Resilience: ability to return to the original form after being bent, compressed, or stretched; ability to recover from adversity

Chapter 1: Sunset

_Edward Cullen –Sierra Leone_

He'd spent all day in the same position – curled up with his forehead against his knees, never moving a muscle. No human could have done that, but becoming a statue was easy when you were a vampire; convenient, since he wouldn't need to hold still so long if not for the fact that his vampiric skin would glitter conspicuously in the bright African sun, which was why he was effectively trapped in this dirt-floored, thatch-roofed hut.

Edward wasn't precisely sure where the hut was – somewhere in Sierra Leone, he thought, although he didn't remember exactly when he had entered the country. All he knew was that he'd been pursuing the latest clue on what was beginning to seem like a pointless hunt, and this was where it had led. Then the sun had risen, forcing him to hide in here until nightfall, which he noticed had almost arrived.

_About damn time, _he thought dully. Knowing that he would soon be free to leave the miserable little hovel, to resume tracking his quarry, brought him something like the barest hint of relief, but only that. It didn't please him – pleasure was unattainable. Over the last half year, Edward's entire world had been distilled down into two sensations: a gnawing sense of meaninglessness, emptiness, and despair that quite literally paralyzed him most of the time and, at night, when he was free to move about unrestrained by sunlight, an urgency of purpose that made it possible for him to get up and go on, if just for a little while.

Occasionally there was something else, so brief and infrequent that he didn't consider it a real part of his existence – didn't even allow himself to acknowledge it, not really. _It _was a single, four-word idea that drifted through his mind now and then, snaked its perverse way in no matter how viciously he beat it down… _I could go back. _Edward had to beat that thought down, couldn't even let himself think it, because it was so tempting that if he did, he knew all his will to resist would drain away in an instant, like water poured onto sand…

…And he would go back. Back to the cloudy little town that he still thought of as home – back to _her_. Bella. Edward closed his eyes, letting her fill his mind completely. The image of her face: her fair, ivory skin, those chocolate-brown eyes, her _smile_…

Picturing Bella's smile turned Edward's musings from soothing to sour; after all, the whole reason he had left was so that she _could _smile, so that she could live a life free from the danger their relationship exposed her to. Imagining Bella without him, _safe_ – perhaps having moved on to someone like Mike Newton who couldn't hurt her, didn't put her at risk by his mere presence, who could give her the normal life Edward never could was like a knife through his cold, silent heart. It was also his deepest desire, what he'd sacrificed his own happiness for.

_All my own pain is bearable, _he reminded himself for the thousandth time, _if only she can be safe, can live as a normal human the way she was always meant to. And I will finish what I set out to do and then… _He paused upon the realization that he had no plans beyond the accomplishment of his current goal.

Returning to his family was an option, but one he knew he wouldn't take. What would be the point of forcing his own misery on them? Especially Jasper…and for the others to see him this way… _NO! _Rejoining the rest of the Cullens was definitely out, then. So what _did _he intend to do with himself? _Nothing, _he decided. _My existence is already all but consumed by nothingness; I may as well let the submersion be complete-_

His train of thought was abruptly derailed as something new intruded on his awareness – the sun had set, finally. Edward unfolded his body from its cramped fetal position-like crouch and was outside the hut in a fraction of a second. Now the hunt began once more…

###

Edward assumed his target was most likely to be found near her food source of choice, so he searched each village he came across, always keeping to the perimeter until at long last he picked up the scent, mingled with that of fresh blood. _So she has killed again. I hope she's enjoyed her last meal. _

Sprinting at his maximum possible speed, Edward soon overtook his prey and pounced, driving her to the ground with his momentum. But feeding recently had strengthened her, whereas Edward hadn't hunted for food in well over a month; she threw him off easily and laughed as she shook her tangled orange hair out of her face.

"Well well, Edward Cullen. I was wondering when I'd catch up to you."

"You're mistaken, Victoria," Edward snarled. "_I've _caught up with _you_."

"Because I let you!" she sneered. "You're the most pathetic tracker I've ever laid eyes on! The things I had to do in order for you to find me… Do you have any idea how exasperating it is to have to stoop to something as obvious as purposefully spilling all that blood?" Her voice became a petulant whine. "After what you did, I expected better."

Edward was no longer listening. "You wanted me to find you – why? Surely you knew why I hunted you?"

"Of course I did." Victoria snickered. "It was for _her_ – your precious little human pet. Such a shame that after all that effort, you couldn't save her-"

"What are you talking about?" Edward interrupted. "I did save Bella, or do you not remember? Funny, I'd thought James's death might have made an impression."

Victoria growled, her lips peeling back from her teeth. "I didn't mean then! Why do you think 'finding' me took you so long, even taking into account your pitiful tracking skills? It's because I just got here, you fool! Would you like to see what I did before?" Without waiting for an answer, she brought a certain memory to the forefront of her mind, where Edward could hear and see it in lurid detail…

_Flashback – March 23rd, midnight_

On her way back to her fledgling army, Victoria halted mid-stride as the sound of stony vampire flesh being ripped apart reached her ears. The wind's direction made it impossible to catch the scent of whomever was destroying her creations, but there was no doubt that someone was in fact destroying them.

Victoria's finely honed instinct for evasion and survival kicked in and she executed a quick about-face, running away from the massacre. It was pure luck that another scent met her nostrils as she fled: Bella Swan's. Her lips curled into a malicious smile. _How very fortunate…_

Getting to Bella was ridiculously easy; the single werewolf guarding her hadn't even phased yet and was less than completely focused. His presence surprised Victoria for a split second, but she put him out of mind as soon as she'd dealt with him, sending him through an unfinished wall with a well-placed kick. Then she leapt back across the room, catching Bella by the arm and dragging her along as she exited through the hole she'd smashed in the outer wall coming in.

It was disappointing that the time crunch necessitated abandoning her more _elaborate _plans for the sniveling little human, but that didn't matter so much – the end result would be the same. "…This will be just as effective," Victoria said happily, plunging her fist into Bella's chest. The human's sternum broke like a toothpick, and then Victoria's hand was inside her chest, clenching around her frantically thudding heart…

…Crushing it, and then Victoria withdrew her hand and literally tore the girl's heart out. Now that there was no chance vampire venom could revive her, Victoria didn't hesitate to stick her face into the open thoracic cavity and quench her thirst by sucking the end of Bella's severed aorta as though it were a straw; then, once she was drained dry, Victoria vented her rage over losing James because of this insignificant, pathetic _human_ one last time by crushing the girl's neck in her fist.

_Now it's done, James. I've finished what you started, made her pay for getting you killed. _Satisfied at last by that knowledge, Victoria took off, leaving Bella Swan's mangled corpse lying in a spreading pool of crimson-

_End Flashback_

Through the lens of Victoria's vivid memory, Edward saw the broken, bled-out shell that had been Bella and fell to his knees in an agony of grief and loss. "No…" His voice was low, almost a moan. "No…please no…oh, Bella…"

**OK, here's an opportunity for you to put your two cents in on this story: having played with both BPOV and third-person narration in Resurgence and Reprise, respectively, I'm currently vacillating between the two for the parts of this fic that include Bella. If you have a preference, I'd like you to let me know, please.**


	2. A Tangled Web

**OK readers, I've decided to go with BPOV for most of the story, although selected parts will be narrated in 3rd person – mostly the scenes that don't contain Bella as well as all of the chapters with Edward.**

Chapter 2: A Tangled Web

_Petrelli mansion – Manhattan, NY_

_Bella POV_

When my eyes opened, my first thought was, _Why am I not in my room? _followed shortly by _Where exactly am I, anyway? _Then my rolling over triggered a burst of pain through my entire body, and it all came flooding back. I was momentarily disappointed that it hadn't been just a bad dream, but I knew that, logically, it couldn't have been – my imagination wasn't that good.

I turned my head to look at the space beside me on the bed, only to see that Peter wasn't there. Completely disregarding my sore muscles, I sat up and threw myself off the bed in a blind panic. He wouldn't have left for Pinehearst while I was still asleep, would he? _No, please, please no… _

I tore out of the guestroom, down the hall and the stairs, and nearly smashed into Angela Petrelli, who dropped her glass of orange juice and clutched her chest. "Good heavens! What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"Where's Peter?" I demanded, ignoring Mrs. Petrelli's obvious disapproval.

"I really haven't the slightest idea," she said with a frown. "I'd thought he was with you."

Claire appeared in the breakfast room's doorway. "Hey, Bella. You looking for Peter?" I nodded and she said, "He's out there, in the yard somewhere," and pointed.

"Thanks." I turned to go out, but stopped when Claire cleared her throat loudly. "What is it?"

"You might want to get dressed first," she suggested, raising her eyebrows at the satin pj's I was still wearing.

"Oh…right," I muttered distractedly.

"Come along, dear," Angela said, taking my arm. "I'll find some clothes for you."

The beige slacks Angela gave me were all right; the fluffy pink angora sweater, however, was so far from my style that I would have protested…if Angela wasn't quite so intimidating. I thanked her and hurried out to the front forty, where I found Peter and Claire sitting at the outdoor table. "So," she was asking, "are you good to teleport yet?"

"I am, but we're not going back to Forks right now," Peter told her.

I groaned inwardly; my hopes that he might have thought better of his insane plan to get revenge on Arthur were clearly in vain.

"We're _not_?" Claire asked in astonishment.

"No. We have some unfinished business to take care of here first. Last night Bella told me where she's been for the past three days."

"Well, we already figured out someone had kidnapped her."

"You're not gonna believe who."

"Peter!" I burst out. "Don't!"

Ignoring me, he went on, "It was Pinehearst."

Claire's eyes widened so much I was honestly worried they might detach from her retinas. "You mean-?"

"Yes."

"_Arthur_?" she shrieked.

"The one and only," Peter grimly replied. "And I intend to make him pay for it. Besides, if he dies Pinehearst dies with him; I don't know what they're up to, but I'd bet anything it's not good."

I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. "Peter, are you listening to yourself? What, it's not enough to kill your father, now you want to take down a whole company too? _Do you have any idea how crazy you sound_?"

"Bella, calm d-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I snapped. "How do you expect me to be calm when you're talking about putting yourself in danger this way?"

Peter sat me on the table so that our faces were level, took both my hands, looked me full in the face and said, "I know you don't like it, Bella, but it has to be done. Claire and I already tried running from Pinehearst, and you see how well that worked out. It took a while, but they found us in Forks – they can find us wherever else we go. The only option we have left is to take that company down. You understand that, don't you?"

"No," I said stubbornly. "Can't somebody else do it?"

"Like who, Matt Parkman?" Claire asked rhetorically.

I stared at her. "Claire…you're a genius!"

She squirmed uncomfortably and muttered, "I wasn't really suggesting that we get Matt involved in this."

"Why not? He wants to be – he would've gone after the guys that kidnapped me by himself if I'd told him who they were. But of course I didn't – Flint and Knox are way too dangerous."

"No," Peter said sharply. "This is my fight, my…my family."

"And mine," Claire added softly. "You-" she looked at me "-should never have gotten dragged into this. If you don't want to go back to Pinehearst Peter can take you home first-"

I snorted. "Yeah right. I am _not_ sitting in Charlie's house not knowing what's going on." I turned to Peter. "Besides, I'm your shield, remember? If I'm not there, who'll stop you from getting yourself killed while playing the hero?"

He rolled his eyes. "Bella, I can take care of myself."

"Taking care of yourself would be putting as much distance between you and Arthur as possible without leaving the planet," I shot back. "This plan to storm into Pinehearst and do whatever it is you think you're going to do is suicidal-"

"And you're suggesting we bring other people into it. Bella, tell me you aren't thinking of using Parkman and his girlfriend as cannon fodder because it might make me safer."

My eyes opened wide. "Would I do that? I was only thinking of getting some backup, not 'cannon fodder'. Anyway, I can't guarantee Matt even _would_ help us; you were pretty rude about Daphne last night," I sniffed.

Peter only shrugged. "Well, she used to work for Pinehearst; I saw her there the day I found out Dad was still alive, in his office! So I wasn't thrilled to see her again, okay?"

_This should surprise me, _I realized dimly. However, all I said was, "I still think Matt could be useful enough that it's worth trying to get his help on this. But maybe you should let me do the talking – he didn't seem very receptive to you even if it was Future Peter who dumped him in Africa."

"I'll go with you," Claire offered, jumping out of her chair. "Peter, can you find him for us?"

Peter closed his eyes in concentration for a moment, then teleported me and Claire to a cluster of green umbrella-covered outdoor Starbucks tables. We quickly spotted Matt and Daphne sitting at one of them, sipping lattes; I sauntered over to them as casually as I could manage, with Claire right behind me.

"Hey Matt, Daphne. Mind if we join you?"

Matt shook his head, looking frankly bemused. Daphne looked from me to Claire and said, "You look less like the walking dead today. Who's your friend?"

"Thanks. This is-"

"Claire Bennet," Matt finished. "We've met before. Aren't you supposed to be on your way back to Washington, Bella?"

Claire answered for me. "We were, but Peter doesn't want to leave until we take down Pinehearst."

Daphne inhaled sharply and Matt exclaimed, "You know about Pinehearst?"

"Oh, I know about them all right – Arthur Petrelli's the one who sent those psychos that kidnapped me from Washington and brought me here," I told him.

Now Matt looked angry. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner? If I'd known…"

"I'm telling you now. I didn't earlier because they're dangerous and I didn't want you getting hurt trying to arrest them or something, but now Peter's determined to pick a fight with them, and I can't talk him out of it, and I thought we could use your help, if…if you're up for it," I finished hesitantly. What was I thinking? Who in their right mind would volunteer to fight people like Knox and Flint – except Peter, with his hero complex?

But Matt surprised me by nodding. "If you're taking Arthur Petrelli down, count me in."

"Matt!" Daphne cried. "You can't be serious!"

"Daphne, he killed my father!"

"Yeah, and he can kill you too!" she retorted. "You can't fight him, Matt; you have no idea how powerful he is."

Matt scowled. "I don't care how powerful he is. He's a bad guy, I'm a cop, and I can't sit around doing nothing while other people try to stop him. I understand if you're scared-"

"But there's no way I can talk you out of this?"

He shook his head.

Daphne heaved a resigned sigh. "Then I'm in too. Just know that if we get killed in there, I am totally kicking your ass."

###

We soon arrived back at the Petrelli mansion – zipping right through New York City's perpetual traffic jam thanks to Daphne, who still made it in less than two minutes in spite of having to make three trips for me, Claire, and Matt – and I went to find Peter while Claire stayed with Daphne and Matt. Just as I realized how long searching the entire mansion might take, I heard Peter's voice through the not quite closed door leading into what I thought might be a study.

My hand was on the doorknob when Peter stopped talking and someone else answered, freezing me in my tracks. That voice was familiar… Where had I heard it before? Before I was able to place it I heard Peter say, "Hang on, someone's outside," and the door swung open.

He relaxed when he saw it was only me and beckoned me inside; I went to him, of course, but as soon as I glimpsed the room's other occupant I wished I hadn't. I recognized the man – from Pinehearst! He wasn't one of the ones who had actually done anything to me, but he'd come into Suresh's lab with Tracy Strauss while I was there, strapped to a metal slab for observation.

Fighting the urge to flee as fast and far as possible, I walked quickly across the carpeted floor to Peter and slipped in close to his side, tugging his arm around my shoulders – this was where I felt safest. The man simply stared at me; I knew from his shocked expression that he remembered me too.

His amazement didn't show anywhere except in his eyes, though – he was very good at controlling and concealing his emotions – so Peter, who was also looking at me, noticed nothing. "Bella, this is my brother, Nathan. Nathan – my girlfriend, Bella."

Nathan's jaw didn't exactly drop – it was more like he opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind and swiftly shut it. After taking a moment to collect himself he cleared his throat and said, "So, Pete, you finally found yourself a girlfriend? Guess now I know why Ma and I haven't seen you in so long – you could probably forget all about us with her around." He moved forward, hand out to shake mine, and I quivered with the effort not to recoil.

"Hey, relax, Bella; he doesn't bite," Peter assured me, squeezing my shoulders reassuringly.

I forced a grin and shook Nathan Petrelli's hand – he had quite a firm handshake, which I supposed must be fairly common among the political set. He had the smile down as well; for someone who allegedly didn't bite, he certainly showed enough of his teeth – teeth which were so white they could have belonged to a vampire. I quickly pulled away, relieved that at least his skin wasn't cold.

Watching the Petrelli brothers, I quickly deduced that Peter knew nothing about Nathan's affiliation with Pinehearst, and that Nathan wanted to keep it that way. So I found myself caught in a nasty dilemma: should I rat Nathan out to Peter or Claire, or, since Peter obviously cared very much for his big brother, should I keep my mouth shut?

On the one hand, finding out that Nathan was in league with Arthur would probably hurt Peter; on the other, he hated me keeping things from him, and this was a pretty big deal. And if nobody knew Nathan was working with Pinehearst, then someone might let him in on our plan to take the company down, and he could warn Arthur!

_But maybe they'll know even if I don't say anything. Peter and Matt are both telepaths, _I reminded myself, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to Nathan's thoughts, because they were busy waiting for him to leave so that they, Daphne, Claire, and I could begin forming our plan of attack. Nathan hung around for an hour or so, catching up with Peter, Claire, and even Matt – with whom he apparently had some prior acquaintance – before saying he needed to return to work and making his exit.

I excused myself on the pretext of going to the bathroom and followed Nathan out the front door. "Mr. Petrelli!"

He turned, frowning. "Bella? What is it?"

"Just wanted to tell you that I remember you…from Pinehearst."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"I do. That's where you're going now, isn't it?"

"I don't see how my work is any business of yours," Nathan said smoothly.

"It is my business! Your father used me as a lab rat!" I hissed.

Nathan blanched but recovered almost instantly. "Look, I… I didn't know you and Peter were together, okay?"

"Oh, so if I were a stranger that would make it all right?" I shook my head impatiently. "Look, I didn't come out here to debate ethics with you. I just wanted to say that Peter knows about Arthur kidnapping me. He knows and he's seriously pissed off, so if I were you I'd put a little distance between myself and that company."

"Why are you telling me this?" Nathan asked, taken aback.

I shrugged. "Because Peter may not care about Arthur anymore, but he still cares about you. That's why I didn't say anything to him about seeing you at Pinehearst. Also because I heard what you said to Tracy, and I don't think you're completely amoral – at least not yet."

"You don't, huh?" Nathan chuckled. "Sometimes I wish I could be so sure." And with that he took off into the sky.


	3. Back to Formula

**Warning: this chapter goes in and out of BPOV, so read the italicized notations in the center of the page! Otherwise I accept no responsibility for your confusion. **

Chapter 3: Back to Formula

_Bella, Peter & Claire – Petrelli mansion_

_BPOV_

About two seconds ago, we'd finalized our plans to rendezvous with Matt and Daphne for our attack on Pinehearst after sunset, since most of the staff should have gone home by then. Daphne had taken off with Matt about one second ago; I carefully avoided blinking, trying to watch them although that was nearly impossible, fascinated by Daphne's ability to extend her enhanced speed to anyone she was in contact with. _Her speed is like my shield in that way… I wonder how many powers are out there that can stretch to other people like that… _

…_Dr. Suresh might've done a study on that if he hadn't mutated himself. _Even though he'd turned violent in the end, I still felt a stab of pity for the doctor – whatever else he'd done, he had also helped me escape Pinehearst. I knew I could never have gotten out without Mohinder-

Angela Petrelli's voice brought me out of my abstraction. "…Hope you're not all planning to go to Pinehearst," she was saying.

"We have to," Peter told her. "Dad has to be stopped, whatever he's up to."

"I know perfectly well what your father is doing and you're right, you do need to stop him. But you should _not _take those girls with you. It's far too dangerous-" Her voice was instantly drowned by angry protests from me and Claire.

"Stopping Arthur will be practically impossible if I'm not there blocking his powers-"

"Since when is anything too dangerous for me?"

"I didn't say it was too dangerous for _you_, dear," Angela said tartly. "What I meant, Claire, is that you and Bella both in Pinehearst, at the same time, is dangerous…for everyone. How much do you know about what goes on in there – what they're working on?"

As I was the one who'd spent the most time in Pinehearst, Claire and Peter both turned to me for an answer to Angela's question; I racked my brain to provide one and came up with a few scraps of information I'd overheard in Mohinder's lab. "Some kind of formula," I said slowly. "Arthur's developing some formula that apparently would be worth a bundle to the military, but he hasn't got it to work yet… And there was a man who worked there, a scientist, who'd injected _himself_, and it made him almost like a v- very strong, I mean – except since the formula wasn't right there were side effects…horrible things…"

I gulped, sickened by the memories – the touch of Suresh's scaly hands, the awful, gooey fingertip secretion he'd tried to wrap me in – I shuddered, and Peter's hand tightened comfortingly around mine.

Angela simply nodded as if she'd expected as much. "That formula was designed to give ordinary people abilities like ours; in order to do that properly it requires a certain catalyst, a substance that can't be produced or stored synthetically. Years ago a former colleague of mine, Kaito Nakamura, tried to keep this catalyst from falling into the wrong hands by hiding it away inside a living host, a human infant. That was you," she said to Claire.

"_Me_?"

"Kaito believed you were the ideal choice to keep it safe; if the host is killed, the catalyst would be lost forever-"

"So he picked a girl who can't die to be the host," Peter concluded.

"Precisely. His plan would have worked perfectly-" Angela suddenly skewered Peter and Claire with her sharp gaze "-if the two of you hadn't seen fit to mess it all up."

Her condescendingly disapproving tone grated on my nerves, especially because it was directed at the two most important people in my life. "How exactly did they mess it all up?" I demanded with a frown.

"They saved your life," Angela replied, fixing her eyes on my face. "You see, the catalyst-" she picked up Claire's hand and stretched her arm out, thoughtfully tracing a vein on the underside of Claire's wrist with a fingertip "-is stored in its host's blood. If I'm not mistaken, last March you suffered a fatal injury, after which Claire, with Peter's help, brought you back to life using her blood – quite a lot of it."

My mouth fell open. No one moved or spoke for several seconds; then I stammered, "But- but what I think you're suggesting is impossible. I think I'd have noticed if some kind of catalyst got accidentally transferred into me… Wouldn't I?"

"Maybe not. It's lived in me since I was a baby and I never knew about it till now," Claire pointed out. A sudden shiver passed through her body. "It creeps me out that there was this thing living in my blood all these years and I didn't even _know_. I'm glad to be rid of it."

Her grandmother pursed her lips. "Rid of it? I'm afraid you're not entirely rid of it, dear. The catalyst doesn't leave a host's body easily. It's still in you, and in Bella as well now. Somehow, it's split itself between the two of you, and _that _is why one of you should stay behind tonight. Either of you by yourself would be useless to Arthur, but if he gets his hands on you both – well, you know what happens then."

"He wins," Claire needlessly stated.

Peter unconsciously let go of my hand and ran his fingers through his hair, thinking hard. "Mom's right, one of you has to sit out..."

He may have said more, but I didn't hear it; my mind was racing down an entirely different track. A theory was taking shape in my head, and I only needed one question answered before I could know whether it would work. "Mrs. Petrelli, I don't understand exactly how this host thing works. Would Claire and I together be able to catalyze the formula, if we had it?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Peter demanded, incredulous. "The whole reason we're trying to get rid of Pinehearst is to make sure that formula _doesn't _get finished!"

Privately, I thought Peter was doing this mostly because he wanted revenge on Arthur for what he'd done to me – as well as for generally being a lousy father and human being – however, this didn't seem like the best time to start an argument about motivating factors. "Yes, I know it'd be dangerous in the wrong hands and we should destroy it as soon as possible, but before we do there's someone who needs it – I mean, _really_."

_End BPOV_

###

Miles away, in a messy lab on Reed Street, Dr. Mohinder Suresh was recording his latest observations. "I've run out of time. The infection has spread to my lungs. My only hope for a cure was to perfect the formula and inject myself, but I've been unable to do so – I'm no closer to discovering the secret to making it work, and without Isabella Swan (to date the only subject not to experience severe mutation upon exposure) to study, I fear I never will. By giving myself these powers, I've signed my own death certif-"

Mohinder put down his tape recorder, his words cut off by a violent coughing fit. This had been happening periodically all day, worse every time; his cough deepened, and just breathing had become difficult.

His mood deteriorated along with his physical condition, until he couldn't decide who he was angrier with: himself for giving in to temptation and starting all this, or Isabella Swan. First she'd tricked him – conveniently 'forgot' to mention that she already had a power prior to him administering the serum – and then she'd run off before he'd had time to study her, to find out whether that was the only reason she hadn't mutated or if maybe, just _maybe_, there was something about Isabella herself that could have helped him…

"Hello? Anybody home?"

Mohinder froze. He hadn't heard anyone come in, although with his heightened senses he should have been able to; ergo, the intruder had entered without using the door – either walked right through it or teleported in. Well, whoever it was, he would soon find himself plastered to the lab's back wall in a sticky cocoon…

The mutant scientist sprang at him, only to be telekinetically halted and held in midair, then flung down onto one of the many tables set up to hold lab equipment.

"Okay, let's try this again," the guy said, and this time Mohinder recognized him.

"_Peter_? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you. Do you still have the formula you took from Pinehearst?"

Mohinder, stunned by how much the other man knew, blurted, "How do you know about that?"

"Bella told me," Peter said shortly.

"Bella…_Swan_?"

Peter's jaw clenched. "Yeah, you remember – the girl you used as a lab rat? I'll be damned if I know why, but she feels sorry for you even after what you did to her. Now get the formula; we think we have a way to cure you, and then we're getting rid of it."

Mohinder gathered all his test tubes containing the watery red serum and had them packed in his bag almost before Peter finished speaking.

"Is that all of it?" When Mohinder nodded Peter said, "Just one other thing…" and socked the geneticist in the mouth, _hard_. "That's for using Bella in your experiments. Now let's get out of here."

_Bella, Claire, & Angela – Primatech Research, Hartsdale, NY_

_BPOV_

"For the last time, I wish you'd reconsider."

"Well, you know what they say about wishing in one hand and spitting in the other," Claire said under her breath. Angela had been scolding us for 'making a foolish mistake' all the way to Primatech, and we were both getting fed up. Unfortunately, Angela either didn't notice or (more likely, in my opinion) didn't care.

"Since you obviously don't care how dangerous this formula is to the world," she went on, oblivious to Claire's hands balling up the way they did when she wanted to hit something, "you could at least think of what it might do to you. The catalyst was meant to remain intact; that substance is volatile enough in its dormant form, and as for splitting it – I'm amazed it didn't kill you both when that happened. If you activate it, _use_ it, who knows what the consequences would be!"

"I'm not worried," Claire coolly informed her grandmother.

"You didn't see Suresh," I threw in. "He's in _bad _shape; it's really kind of pathetic."

Angela sighed in exasperation. "Admirable as it is that you want to help him-"

"Enough! Bella and I've made up our minds, okay?"

"It isn't your decision to make!"

"Oh yeah?" Claire sneered. "If your company didn't want us deciding what to do with the catalyst, maybe you should've thought of that _before _you put it in me! Come on, Bella." Seizing my wrist, she dragged me through a door labeled 'Exam Room 1', slammed it and leaned on it, ignoring Angela's furious exclamation from the other side.

"After meeting her, I've got a whole new understanding of why Peter moved as far away as Forks," I remarked. "Actually, I'm surprised he stopped there instead of going all the way to Antarctica."

Claire laughed. "You're so right, Bella. I don't think she's even that concerned about the formula being dangerous – she just hates the idea of us using the catalyst some way she doesn't want us to."

"The Petrellis do seem like pretty big control freaks," I agreed. "All except Peter, of course, and maybe Nathan, although I don't know him well enough to make a solid judgment."

"Oh, he can be just as bad as the rest of them," Claire assured me. "First time I met him, I realized that the day they sent me to the Bennets was probably the luckiest day of my life."

I opened my mouth to reply, but forgot what I meant to say when Peter teleported into the room with Mohinder. "Peter!" I skipped across the room and wrapped my arms around him. "You're back! Did he still have it?"

"Yes, I do," Dr. Suresh replied; I turned to him and cringed. The doctor looked even worse than I remembered – the lesions had spread to his face, his fingernails were growing into long, hooked claws, and his voice rasped like a chain smoker's. As I watched in horror, he began coughing so hard that his entire body shook; I noticed that there was blood around his mouth and wondered if he'd spat it up the way a tuberculosis patient might.

Suresh busied himself with pouring all the serum into one large container; the sight of the seemingly innocuous liquid made my skin crawl as I remembered the last time I'd seen it, when it had been injected into me and I was powerless to stop it because the exam table's straps wouldn't let me move an inch-

"Bella?" Peter was watching me closely, obviously concerned.

I forced a grin, assured him that I was fine, and changed the subject by asking how Claire and I were supposed to transfer the catalyst into the formula. "How are we supposed to control this thing when it's been inside us all this time without us even being aware of it?"

"The same way you learned to control your shield. I'll help you." Peter held my head so that his hands blocked my peripheral vision, cutting out everything else that might have diverted my attention.

Searching for the catalyst inside myself and Claire was easier when I couldn't see her and Mohinder watching me, but harder with Peter's face so close to mine. Realizing that, he pulled back slightly. "Focus, Bella."

"Sorry." Closing my eyes so his proximity wasn't _quite _as big a distraction, I turned my attention inward and, sooner than I expected, found what I was looking for: a thin glowing thread connecting me with Claire, something that was in us both but not really a part of either of us. Concentrating all my willpower, I grabbed Claire's hand and channeled the catalyst into our entwined fingers.

"Wow," she breathed.

I jerked out of Peter's hold and stared at Claire. "Do you see it too?" Eyes wide, she nodded. When I directed the catalyst into Mohinder's serum, its red-gold light shone painfully bright; for a moment it seemed almost solid, like a chain that snaked through Claire's and my veins and bound us together where our hands touched. In that instant that lasted an eternity, I doubted whether I could have separated my hand from hers if I tried.

Then it was all over. The light went out; we dropped each other's hands and stepped back as if burned. "That was intense." My voice came out a panting gasp, as though I'd just run a long way.

"It was," Claire agreed. "Is that the kind of thing you see all the time?"

"Not necessarily. Everyone's power looks different to me – his, for instance-" I nodded toward Mohinder "-isn't nearly as pretty as the catalyst was."

"Duh, even I can see that."

"Trust me Claire, it's even worse the way I see it." I picked up a syringe, filled it with the new and hopefully improved serum, and offered it to Mohinder. "Let's see if this helps, Doctor."

He took it, careful not to touch me as he did. "Let's see."

Claire, Peter, and I watched, barely even breathing as the needle pierced Mohinder's arm…

_End BPOV_

_Nathan & Arthur Petrelli – Pinehearst _

Arthur's office door opened so forcefully that it bounced off the wall, causing him to look up just as Nathan slammed his palms down on the desk. "Nathan, you're late – and you're angry."

"Damn straight, I'm angry! I'm furious! That girl you sent to the lab – the one who escaped – turns out she's not just some girl off the street. She's Peter's girlfriend! Dad, tell me you knew nothing about that."

Arthur stood up with a heavy sigh. "As a matter of fact, I did know Peter was seeing the Swan girl-"

"You knew Pete loved her and you experimented on her anyway," Nathan fumed. "There better be a damn good reason why you did that, Dad."

_What _is _it with my family? _Arthur wondered. A year ago it was Angela poisoning him because she couldn't see that there was no way Nathan could be allowed to follow through on his investigation of the Linderman Group when their plan was set to be put into action so soon, now it was Nathan getting all hot under the collar because Arthur had tried to get rid of that useless little twit from Forks! Sometimes Arthur was convinced he was the only Petrelli who wasn't terminally shortsighted.

"Of course I have a good reason, Nathan," he said patiently. "For all his personal flaws, Peter's powers have developed better than I ever hoped. We can't afford to have him as our enemy, but he could be useful if he came around to our way of thinking."

"Fat chance of that happening."

"Don't worry, son, I can be very persuasive when I have to be. Controlling Peter will be easy with that girl out of the way – he's not strong enough to fight me if he doesn't have her to fight _for_. You'd be amazed what a broken heart can do to someone."

"I won't be party to this." Nathan turned to leave, but was drawn to a halt by Arthur catching his shoulder.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but you're too important to my plan. I can't let you walk away now. Swan's going to die, and you're going to take care of her. It has to be done." Arthur mentally reinforced the words so that they became a telepathic command. "Say it," he ordered.

"I'll take care of her," Nathan repeated mechanically, and accepted the gun Arthur handed him without a hint of protest.

**The scene with the catalyst gave me extreme writer's block and is to blame for the delay in updating. The end with Arthur and Nathan only took me a few minutes. The part where Peter punched Mohinder has no other reason behind it than I thought Mohinder deserved a good punching and Peter was conveniently right there. **


	4. Long Night, Pt 1

**Warning: cliffhanger! Read at your own risk!**

**I'd like to thank Halfwaytothedevil333 for recommending the music I listened to while writing this. 'You're Going Down' by Sick Puppies is very appropriate background music for this chapter since it's the most 'fight-heavy' chaps in this story so far – though there will be more action later.**

Chapter 4: Long Night, Pt. 1

_Daphne Millbrook & Matt Parkman – street outside Pinehearst_

"Wow, nobody's here," Daphne said after a quick look up and down the street – well, for _her_ it was only 'quick'. _Matt _was barely able to see her head turn. "Guess we should just go back home."

Matt grabbed her arm before she'd taken a single step. "Wimping out this late in the game isn't like them. At least not Peter and Claire – I don't know Bella that well. Let's wait five minutes and if no one shows up, then we'll go home."

"If they did wimp out they'd be saner than us," Daphne muttered. She just couldn't understand why she was the only one who saw how crazy going anywhere near Arthur Petrelli was. Maybe not so crazy for anyone else – it wasn't like any of _them _would literally be crippled by the loss of their powers – but still, she'd bet none of them would like it. Regardless of how much any of them relied or didn't rely on their special talents, it was part of who they were, and to have that torn away would be horrible. Daphne wondered if the rest of them realized what they risked losing in this confrontation with Arthur, and decided they probably didn't. To them, their powers were just tools, means to an end, something they wouldn't miss until it was gone and maybe not even then, rather than something they _needed_.

Daphne _did _need her ability, yet here she was, heading off to fight a man who could take it away, all because of…Matt Parkman. He might have seemed completely insane at first, babbling about their future together that only existed in his 'spirit walk', whatever the hell that was, but she had to admit she was buying into it, insane or not. Maybe because Matt's optimism, blind faith, _whatever _was a refreshing counterpoint to her own cynicism, maybe because he was the first person who wasn't just interested in using her to steal stuff or labeling her as the 'nemesis' like a certain annoying Japanese time-stopper… And Matt was probably reading all this right out of her mind!

Her gaze flicked over to him just in time to catch him turning hurriedly away, a big grin plastered on his face. "Matt, get out of my head!" He only smiled wider; Daphne decided it was time to change the subject. "How long've we been waiting for Bella and her pals anyway?"

"All of one minute and seven seconds," Matt answered after checking his watch. Daphne sighed; sometimes moving at more than ten times the speed of everyone else could be frustrating.

###

Another thirty seconds dragged by before Bella, her blonde friend, and her boyfriend – who Daphne was less than thrilled to see again – teleported into the street. Peter and Claire, like Matt, were both carrying guns; Bella was unarmed since no sane person, not even Peter, thought giving her a gun was a good idea – there was a greater likelihood of her shooting her own big toe off than of her wounding anybody else.

The group entered Pinehearst without too muchtrouble – unless you counted the blaring alarm that took Peter's technopathy to shut off and the night watchman who had to be 'convinced' by Matt that they had a meeting with Arthur scheduled…at eleven PM – and took the elevator up to level six, where Bella said the labs were located. They were already on their way down the darkened hallway before the elevator doors slid closed behind them; then Bella, who was leading the way, stopped abruptly and almost caused a pileup. Unshielding her mind, she sent a warning: _There's someone down there! _to the telepaths.

Peter tapped into the electric circuitry running through the walls and directed its current to the lights, flooding the corridor with brighter light than they normally would have produced.

The figure Bella had vaguely sensed, now revealed to be Nathan Petrelli, moved forward with a brisk, somehow mechanical stride even as he gave his brother a perfectly casual 'hello'. There was something odd about the look on his face… "Bella, nice to see you again," he said…then he whipped out the .45 hidden beneath his suit's jacket and fired twice at her chest.

Bella never even had time to process that Nathan was going to shoot her before she heard the earsplitting report, saw the flash, stumbled backward in shock – and fell next to Claire, who was lying on the floor with her chest punctured by the bullets meant for Bella. Peter and Matt had both read Nathan's murderous intentions but were too far away to do anything; Claire, however, had guessed from his jerkily robotic movements and weirdly blank eyes that something was amiss and had thrown herself between him and Bella in the nick of time.

Daphne zipped around behind Nathan and struck him on the back of his skull with the butt of his gun, which she'd taken out of his hand before he even noticed he'd lost it; knocked out cold, he joined Claire and Bella on the floor.

Peter hauled the dazed brunette to her feet, ascertained that there was nothing wrong with her besides shock, and then turned his attention to his unconscious older sibling. "Son of a bitch!" He took a step toward Nathan, and Bella held him back.

"No! Don't hurt him!"

"He tried to kill you! I'll-"

"You'll _what_? Huh? I'm fine, and watching you hurt your brother won't do a damn thing for me, Peter!" A fraction of the tension went out of him then, so Bella loosened her grip on his arm and spoke more calmly. "We have other things to do here, remember?"

"Then let's go do 'em."

"Wait – we can't just leave Claire here!" Bella cried.

"We have to," Matt snapped. "She'll be fine, but we can't hang around waiting for her to heal. Daphne, can you stay with her?"

Daphne nodded, glad for an excuse to sit the fight out, and dragged Claire's body over to the wall while Matt, Peter, and Bella locked Nathan inside a supply closet and proceeded to the labs. No sooner had they gone, however, than someone else approached: Knox, his gun locked and loaded.

Recognizing her, he lowered it. "Well, look who it is – and you got Claire! Good work. Now let's take her to the boss."

Daphne gulped; the thought of going near Arthur Petrelli terrified her, but she couldn't see a way out unless… Unless she let Knox take Claire and ran. She was good at running away, but she was supposed to be one of the good guys now. What would Matt think if she ran, abandoning Claire to whatever Arthur had planned for her?

"C'mon, Daphne. What are you afraid of?"

Thinking fast, Daphne said, "Nothing, I- I was just about to take Claire there myself, but now that you're here you can do it while I go after the other ones that came in with her."

"What other ones?" Knox demanded.

"The other four guys with guns that are gonna toss a match in the formula – it's supposed to be highly flammable."

Knox's eyes widened, but his suspicious frown stayed in place. "Why don't I go after them and _you _take the girl to Petrelli?"

_Uh-oh! _Daphne's brilliant scheme had neatly backfired on her: not only did she not get out of meeting Arthur, she'd also given away Matt, Bella, and Peter! She threw her hands up. "You think I have super-strength too? She's _dead weight_, Knox!"

"Move fast," he suggested, draping Claire's body over Daphne's shoulders. "Unless there's another reason you don't wanna take her up there?"

Daphne knew Knox sensed her fear, but she lied anyway. "No, there's nothing." Then she ran with Claire up the stairs (built in case the elevators ever quit working because of fire), but instead of exiting the fire escape onto the top floor she paused on the landing, lowered Claire's body to the ground, and then ran back down to the sixth floor. Claire could heal on her own; Daphne had to get back to Matt before Knox killed him.

_Bella, Peter & Matt – Suresh's old lab_

Bella pointed out the vat containing the formula, and Peter telekinetically knocked it over, washing the rather expansive room's entire floor with the stuff, while Matt began shredding whatever notes Mohinder had left; they were determined to destroy all traces of this project so that it could never be started again.

Everyone stopped what they were doing when the door swung open; Bella, recognizing Knox and Flint, ducked behind Peter. He and Matt aimed their guns at the newcomers, but Knox held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Wait! You want this place shut down. So do we."

"Yeah," Flint drawled. "They make this formula thing, then we ain't so special no more. I already been nobody once – I don't wanna go back to bein' nobody."

Matt and Peter read Knox and Flint's thoughts, which confirmed that they were telling the truth; the four men commenced dousing the lab in gasoline, along with Daphne when she arrived. None of them noticed Bella slip out the door.

_Claire – fire escape landing_

The 'dead' girl's blue eyes snapped open as she jerked up into a sitting position, and retched until she spat up the bullets; after expelling them she was finally able to check out her surroundings. _How'd I get here? Wait…they must've put me here so Arthur's henchmen wouldn't find me before I came back. That makes sense. _

Claire lurched to her feet, pushed through the nearest door, and found herself in a different hallway from the one where she'd been shot. "Huh?" She edged cautiously down the hall until she reached the door at the end, the one leading into the largest office suite, and realized it must be Arthur's. There was no telling if he was in there, but if he was she could end this whole thing right now.

Thumbing her gun's safety off, she kicked the door open, charged inside, saw a man sitting at the desk, and fired rapidly without pause for further thought. The bullets froze in midair and then dropped to the floor.

Arthur Petrelli sent Claire's gun flying across the room as though he was merely swatting a gnat. "Claire – I've been waiting for you."

"Go to hell!" she snarled. Arthur only smiled sardonically and used telekinesis to pin her down in a chair; she could move her eyes, but that was all. When he probed her mind, Claire Bennet felt something she never expected to feel again: pain. He forced his way inside her head, ripped out the information he wanted: where Peter was now, who Claire had come with, the fact that he needed to capture Bella as well to control the catalyst, and Nathan's failed attempt to kill her.

Then he withdrew, leaving Claire's brain aching like each individual fold of her cerebral cortex had been pulled apart. Worse, now Arthur was after Bella! "No! You…bastard…" Claire panted.

"Well, it looks like I have quite a mess to clean up. I'll be right back with Peter and your little friend – in the meantime, you wait here." The words were a mental command; satisfied that Claire wasn't going anywhere until he allowed her to, Arthur left her there and descended to the sixth floor in search of the ever-irritating Isabella Swan.

_Bella – 6th floor hallway_

Just as Bella reached out for the button to call an elevator, a soft _ding _warned her that one had already arrived – no doubt carrying someone she'd do well to avoid. She hid behind a plastic decorative plant, stuck her thumbnail in her mouth as she often did when nervous, and then bit it off when Arthur Petrelli exited through the sliding metal doors.

She remained frozen there until he'd passed her hiding place; then she let out a soft sigh of relief and slumped against the wall, hugging herself. As she did, she felt a lump in her jacket pocket, something she'd forgotten was there until now. No one trusted her with a gun, but she had been allowed a taser since the worst she could do with one of those was knock herself out for a while. If she accidentally zapped herself, that is. If she was able to use it without accident…maybe she could put _Arthur _out of action for a while!

Bella froze again, intrigued and a little appalled that such a thing had occurred to her. She had punched Mohinder and the Pinehearst security guy, but only in self-defense, and she had never used any sort of weapon before. Still, one look at Arthur was all it took to bring back memories of what he'd had done to her, or done himself – the latter actually made her cheek sting briefly – and she knew she couldn't just let him walk right past her. She had to do something. More than that, she _wanted _to.

Her decision was made; now she just had to act on it before she lost her nerve. Bella scrambled out from behind the fake plant, crept up on Arthur as quickly and silently as she could manage, squeezed her eyes shut, and fired – steeling her nerves for pain in case she somehow hit herself instead.

The pain never came. Slowly, Bella opened her eyes and saw the prone form of Arthur Petrelli lying at her feet. _I did it, _she thought, numbly disbelieving. _I actually did it! _

Looking closer, she noticed a curious glint on Arthur's chest from a barely-visible shiny something in his pocket. She bent down to investigate and recognized the object immediately: a necklace Peter had given her, the one Arthur had ripped from her throat.

Bella hesitated; she knew she couldn't count on Arthur staying out as long as a normal person would after getting tasered and that touching him could be dangerous if he woke up, but the thought of leaving her necklace with _him _made her blood boil. _It'll only take me a second to grab it, _she reasoned and stuck her hand inside his pocket. Her hand closed around the pendant and she pulled it back – but too late.

A much larger hand caught Bella's pale wrist, and she yelped and looked into Arthur's face just as his eyes opened. "Isabella Swan – I hear you've been running around with half of my catalyst. I can't have that."

**Arthur Petrelli strikes again! Do you hate me for stopping there? Reviews make me write faster (hint, hint!) **


	5. Long Night, Pt 2

**Imawesome34, thank you for getting on my butt about finishing this chapter! If you hadn't, I'd probably still be procrastinating. I'm happy that you like my story so much and I hope my latest installment doesn't let you down.**

Chapter 5: Long Night, Pt. 2

_Bella & Arthur_

_BPOV_

It all happened too fast for my mind to keep up. One minute I was pouring everything I had into my shield, just trying to resist Arthur's attempt at tearing my ability out of me; the next, my shield mutated into a tangibly solid thing, expanding outward beyond my control…forcing Arthur out of the space it filled. He was blasted all the way down the hall and when he reached the end, the back of his skull crunched sickeningly against the stone planter that held the plastic sago palm I'd crouched behind a moment ago.

Determined not to let him regenerate and catch me again, I blocked his healing ability…then collapsed, dizzy and shaking. However I'd done it, solidifying my shield had taken a _lot_ out of me.

Once I could breathe I got slowly to my feet and inched toward the elevators, keeping my eyes on Arthur just in case he came to. When he didn't, I hastily reclaimed my necklace. "That's mine, you son of a bitch," I hissed. Then, resisting the temptation to give him a bruise to match the one he'd given me, I pocketed the glass and gold pendant on its broken chain and stepped into the elevator Arthur had come out of – I had my own mission to complete in Pinehearst tonight.

_End BPOV_

_Nathan Petrelli – supply closet_

"All right, joke's over – let me out! Hey! Let me out of here! This isn't funny!" At least it wasn't funny to Nathan – he guessed whoever had locked him in the closet was probably outside, listening to him shouting and pounding on the door and finding it extremely funny. Maybe there was some hidden humor in here that he would get if only he could remember who had put him here, and why…

Nathan jumped as far back as the limited space allowed as the door became a block of ice and shattered, revealing Tracy Strauss. "Nathan! What the hell happened to you? I've been trying to call you for the last ten minutes!"

"No idea. The last thing I really remember is arguing with Dad; everything after that's kind of a blur. I think maybe I saw Peter and Claire here…and Bella…"

"Who's Bella?" Tracy noticed that Nathan seemed to have bumped his head and wondered if Bella was simply a figment of trauma-induced imagination.

"The girl from the formula testing, the one that escaped with Suresh," Nathan impatiently explained. "She turned out to be Pete's girlfriend and now-" he faltered momentarily, struggling to recall what had gone down while he was operating under Arthur's telepathic control "-now they've come back to destroy Pinehearst, to get revenge for what Dad did to her." Even if the memory wouldn't quite come clear, it sounded like the most plausible explanation for what they'd be doing here in the middle of the night.

Tracy opened her mouth to ask whether destroying Pinehearst didn't seem like a rather lofty goal for the hapless and ostensibly helpless Swan girl and Nathan's kid brother who, although she'd never actually met him, hadn't exactly been described as an over-achiever. A floor-shaking _CRASH _from the lab shut her up before she'd said a word. Instead she asked, "Should we try to stop them?"

Nathan considered for a second; then his face hardened. "Dad brought this on himself – let him deal with it. I think we should get out, and fast."

Tracy iced over and broke the nearest window, and then she and Nathan flew off, leaving Arthur to get what was coming to him.

_Matt, Daphne, Peter, Knox & Flint – the lab_

Three of the five in the lab were satisfied that the place was sufficiently trashed; Knox and Flint were still smashing anything they could lay hands on, caught up in a destructive frenzy. Watching them, Matt said uneasily, "We should get away from here. Flint's this close to torching the place, and it'll go up in seconds with that serum for fuel."

"I'm all for taking off," Daphne agreed.

"Petrelli, you coming?" Peter, scanning the lab as if for some misplaced item, seemed not to hear the question. Matt sighed – thanks to the shielding ability Peter had copied from Bella, Matt was deaf to whatever was going on inside the empath's mind. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Bella's gone, but I don't remember seeing her leave. And Claire should've come back by now. Daphne, what'd you do with her?"

"I left her on the fire escape stairs." Noticing what she interpreted as an accusatory look in Peter's dark eyes, the speedster got defensive. "What? Knox showed up, and I wanted to make sure he didn't hurt Matt, okay?"

Whether Peter thought it was okay, they didn't find out; all he said was, "I have to find her – her _and _Bella."

"If I could read Bella's mind I could use that to track her down, but since I can't I don't think-" Matt broke off midsentence as they exited the lab and ran into Claire in the corridor outside. "Where'd you come from?"

Instead of answering the question, she addressed one of her own to her uncle. "You looking for Bella?"

"Yeah."

"She's in the elevator, going down." The other three gaped as though Claire's regeneration had really gone haywire, causing her to grow an extra head, and Claire shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Well? Are you gonna stand there staring at me or are you gonna go after her?"

"Go after her. Claire, I want you to leave with Parkman and Daphne."

"Fine," Daphne agreed over Claire's protests. "I'll get Matt out and come back for you."

"Thanks – for everything."

_BPOV_

The elevator shuddered, throwing me to the ground, then went into freefall. A small part of me wanted to scream; the bigger part had almost expected something like this – it _would_ be just my luck – so I remained silent until Peter arrived. Somewhere in my mind, I'd expected that as well.

He phased in, ignoring the top escape hatch, and pulled me roughly to my feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing, huh?" He gave me a slight shake. "Don't you know this building's about to be torched?"

"I know. When Arthur kept me prisoner here, I was locked up with someone else. We have to get her out too."

Peter let go of me and made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a frustrated growl. "Why is it always so complicated with you?"

By the time our elevator crashed to a stop the doors had quit working, so Peter phased us through them into the pitch-black space that was sublevel three. "Guess those lights finally quit working." My voice came back at us in a distorted echo.

"Electricity's out. You _do _realize the place is on fire, don't you?"

"Good thing this floor's underground then. Can you do the handheld fireball thing? I can't see."

Our skin appeared cadaverous in the dancing blue light, but at least I was able to find cell three-oh-four. The locking mechanism had been fried when the power blew, and Peter had to break the door down. Elle Bishop was still chained up inside, asleep or unconscious, twitching as her uncontrolled power shocked her. She wasn't producing nearly the voltage she had when I last saw her – I could only guess she must be weaker now. I blocked her power to give her some relief and gently shook her shoulder. "Elle? Elle, you need to wake up."

"Elle – Elle _Bishop_?" Peter moved closer so that his firelight fell on Elle's face. "I'll be damned."

"You know her?"

"Yeah, I do. Bella-" He broke off when Elle's chains rattled, letting us know she was waking up.

Her eyes moved slowly over me and Peter, but she didn't _see_ us. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "Are you…here…to kill me?"

"No – no, we're here to help you…" Her eyelids fluttered shut. "Elle? Peter, do something!"

Although there was no food anywhere in the cell – how long had it been since Elle had eaten? – there was still water, which Peter poured on her face. Her eyes snapped open and she croaked, "Don't do that."

Peter used his disintegrating touch on Elle's chains, which crumbled away in a shower of iron dust. "Can you stand?" he asked, offering her a hand up. Ignoring it, she clambered up on her own in spite of her shaky legs. "Good, now give me your hand."

"Why should I?"

"Just do it." I caught Elle's wrist, forced her hand into Peter's, and grabbed his free hand myself. "Get us out of here!"

###

We materialized across the street from Pinehearst just in time to watch it explode, spewing flame and debris; the ground shuddered as a huge chunk of stone engraved with Pinehearst's double helix insignia landed less than a foot in front of us. Elle shambled forward a step to get a closer look, then glanced from the rubble to the towering inferno and back. "Holy… Is that-?"

"It _was _Pinehearst."

"Good! They deserve to burn!" Orange light from the fire made Elle's skin appear flayed and reflected strangely in her eyes, which were alive with a fierce, vindictive joy. Seeing it, Peter frowned; I noticed then that the fire had reddened his eyes also.

The sight chilled me. "Peter." I tugged at his arm. "Peter!"

He looked away from the remains of Pinehearst at me, and the bloody light went out of his eyes. "Bella, what's wrong?"

"We can't stay here – we need to go before someone comes to investigate. We have to pick up Claire from your mother's house."

Peter turned to face me fully and gripped my shoulders painfully hard.

"Ow! What the hell-?"

He ignored my protests. "How do you know that's where Claire is?"

I blinked. "I- I don't know how I knew that. Why do you ask?"

"Because Claire did the same thing – she told me you were on your way to sublevel three, and that was how I found you. How'd you do it?"

"I don't know! Neither she nor I are telepathic or clairvoyant or anything like that. It just popped into my head where she is, like…we're…connected…"

"It's that catalyst," Peter said quietly. "Mom warned you there'd be consequences if you used it. I wish you hadn't."

I shrugged his hands off. "What's done is done. So what if it did change us a little bit? Drop it, Peter; it isn't like activating the catalyst hurt us or affected our abilities."

"No, it hasn't," he agreed, "yet."

**Next up will be what happens to Edward after he sees Victoria's memory of killing Bella – because I don't usually have as much to say about him, it'll likely be on the short side (kind of like this chapter, if I'm being really honest). There's just a limit to how much of Edward's angsty self-loathing I can write before it starts getting me down. **


	6. Along for the Ride

**Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate the holiday, and a very Happy New Year!**

**As everyone who reads Reprise is already aware, I goofed when I said this chapter would be about Edward; it's actually the next one and I got ahead of myself. To make it up to you I'll write that chapter before going back to Reprise, since I know you want to find out what happens to our favorite sparkly vamp. Your patience is much appreciated (assuming you are in fact being patient rather than cussing me). **

Chapter 6: Along for the Ride

_Peter, Claire, Matt & Daphne – Pinehearst, before the explosion_

"Claire, I want you to leave with Parkman and Daphne."

"_No! _I want to help you find Bella, not run away!"

"Fine," Daphne agreed; then, to Claire: "I'll get Matt out and come back for you."

"Thanks," Peter told her, "for everything." Then he ran in one direction, Daphne and Matt in another, the slipstream of their departure whipping Claire's hair into her face and obscuring her vision. She brushed it aside just in time to see Peter phase through the nonfunctional elevator doors, and then Daphne was back.

"Ready?" Without waiting for an answer she grabbed Claire's hand and took off; Claire expected to be dragged but found that as long as she kept her legs pumping she was able to move as fast as Daphne. She did not however have much control over her direction – Daphne was steering and Claire was just along for the ride.

If Claire _had _been able to control where she went, she wouldn't have let Daphne take her back to the Petrelli mansion. The door blew open in front of them and they came to a dead halt in front of Angela, who peered with raised eyebrows over the rim of her teacup at the new arrivals.

"What are we doing here?" Claire demanded; she'd hoped she wouldn't have to deal with her grandmother again.

"_You're_ waiting here for Peter and Bella," Daphne informed her. "I'm not running a babysitting service." Claire wanted to argue, but Daphne cut her off before she'd made a sound. "Gotta run." Then she bolted, leaving Claire alone with Angela Petrelli.

"So-" Angela's teacup returned with a soft clink to its saucer "-I don't suppose it's any use asking where you and Peter have been for the last few months, is it?"

Claire sighed. "Forks, Washington is where we've been. Bella and I graduated high school there and we're going back for summer vacation, but we'll be somewhere else for college in the fall, I guess."

"'Somewhere else'? You don't know which school you'll be attending yet?"

It sounded like an innocent question, but Claire heard – and was aggravated by – the subtle disapproval in Angela's tone. It was this constant condescension (among other things) that made the Petrelli matriarch so hard to tolerate. Swallowing an angry retort, Claire only shrugged. "We've had other stuff going on." _Vampires, werewolves, Arthur's minions…you name it. _

"I see. And Peter? Surely he doesn't intend to stay in Forks after you and Isabella leave."

"I think he intends to go wherever Bella goes," Claire said with a smirk at Angela's reaction – her face twisted as though she had sunk her teeth into a lemon. _Serves her right. She's just mad because Bella is someone she isn't sure how to control, and because Peter cares about her so much. _Claire bit her lip, stifling a laugh as she recalled the confrontation that had almost erupted into a full-blown fight between the two Petrellis before Peter was satisfied that Angela had had nothing to do with Bella's abduction – only after he'd read her mind rather than taking her word for it. _It wouldn't have surprised me if Angela _had _tried to get rid of Bella. Why does she have it in for her anyway? She doesn't know her well enough to have a real reason for not liking her…_

Claire's musings were cut short when Peter teleported into the room with Bella and, much to Claire's dismayed amazement, Elle Bishop. "What is _she _doing here?"

Elle shot the other blonde an angry look but didn't seem to have the energy for a sarcastic comeback. She sank silently onto a chair's edge, rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.

Eyeing her cautiously as if she were a wild animal that could spring into vicious action at any moment, Peter explained, "We broke her out of an underground cell in Pinehearst. There's something wrong with her-"

"Yeah, up here!" Claire tapped her forehead. "Is her ability still short circuiting too?"

Bella's eyes widened. "Yes! She keeps generating electricity whether she wants to or not, and it hurts her. How do you know about that?"

Claire rushed impatiently through the story of how Elle had broken into the Bennets' house in Costa Verde hoping to get Noah's help, and how she and Claire had ended up going to Pinehearst together. "…And we got there just in time to see Arthur throw Peter out the window, and you know what happened next."

"Right." Bella waved a dismissive hand. "The question is, what are we gonna do with her now?"

Elle raised her head, glaring. "_Do _with me?" she growled.

"Well, where do you want to go?" Peter asked her. "I can take you anywhere on the planet."

She considered it briefly; then, to Bella: "Where're you going?"

"I'm going home to Forks," Bella replied instantly. "So are Peter and Claire."

"Then it looks like I'm going to Forks, wherever the hell that is."

"No you're not," Claire snapped. "What makes you think we want you around indefinitely?"

"What makes _you_ think I care what you want?" was Elle's sharp riposte. "I might not see eye to eye with Cheerleader Two, but she's able to block my power so it doesn't hurt anymore. As long as she can do that I'm sticking with her."

"_Cheerleader Two_? What is it with everyone assuming that just because _Claire_ used to cheerlead and I'm her friend, it automatically means _I'm_ a cheerleader?" Bella complained.

"Never mind that – just tell Elle you don't want her sticking with you. Better yet, quit blocking her power; that'll get rid of her!"

"But if I do that she'll be in pain! If I can help her, shouldn't I?" Anxiously biting her lip, Bella turned to Peter for advice.

He moved closer and lowered his voice to tell her, "Bella, I'm glad you want to help, but you should know that Elle Bishop is… She can be a handful."

Bella noted the pause, as if he had been about to say something else and changed his mind at the last second. "What do you mean by 'a handful'?" she queried warily.

"He means that she's a psycho!" Claire hissed.

"Yeah, I got the idea when we were locked up together that maybe she had a screw loose…or a bunch of screws." Bella's eyes darted from her angry best friend and boyfriend – who wasn't exactly angry but definitely unhappy with the situation – to Elle, who had slumped forward in her chair again. She remembered well enough the conclusion she'd reached about her one-time cellmate on her own – _Elle Bishop was deadly, all right_ – but also how wounded and vulnerable she'd looked then. And of course Bella didn't need to remember how much worse Elle was now; _that_ was right in front of her.

Then there was the fact that Elle was the only semi-friendly face Bella had seen during her forced stay in Pinehearst. Even if it had only been an alliance of convenience, not real friendship, it still meant something – too much for Bella to turn her back on Elle now. "Loose screws or no, it doesn't change the fact that Elle needs help and I don't think she has anyone else who can give it to her."

"What about Bob? Why hasn't he done anything for her?" Peter wondered aloud, inadvertently setting Elle off yet again.

"My father is _dead_!" The words stuck in her throat; saying them felt like yucking up a huge thorny ball of something. "_You_ know that," she spat at Angela, who had watched the entire exchange up to this point like it was a TV show of some interest but no real importance. "After he died the first thing you did was fire me before his body had had time to get cold!"

"Obviously a wise decision – you don't seem particularly useful these days."

"You bitch!" Either forgetting that her power was inaccessible at the moment or intending to strangle Angela with her bare hands, Elle lunged at her…

…Only to be stopped by Peter grabbing her arms above the elbows and pinioning them behind her back. "Calm down!"

"Get off me!" she snarled, struggling although it was bound to be fruitless; Peter was stronger than her even without the physical deterioration resulting from her long captivity in Pinehearst _and _he had her in a position where she couldn't hit, kick, or bite him – not that Elle was so great at those sorts of things anyway, having relied exclusively on her ability until the day it turned on her.

"Peter, teleport her out of here!" Bella ordered.

"To where?"

"Your house in Forks!"

"Me too – someone has to make sure she doesn't burn the house down," Claire said acidly. She put her hand on Peter's shoulder, the way he did when he teleported someone with him and didn't have both hands full with restraining Elle, and then they were gone from the Petrelli mansion, into the dimly sunlit living room of the house that Peter and Claire called home.

With Angela out of sight, the fight left Elle and she sagged toward the floor; for a moment Peter's hold was all that kept her from falling. "You can let go now," she told him. He did so and she rubbed her arms, which had blotched an angry red where they had been locked in his super-strong grip. "What'd you do that for? It hurt!"

Peter watched her, if not impassively, then certainly unsympathetically. "I didn't mean to hurt you-"

"He could've done worse if he did," Claire interjected.

"-But why did I stop you from jumping my mother? Why d'you think?"

Elle opened her mouth – no doubt to say something characteristically sarcastic – and an electric impulse jolted through her. Her body went rigid and then she collapsed, twitching like a seizure victim.

Furious with himself for forgetting that this would happen when Elle was removed from Bella's blocking range, Peter quickly replaced Bella's now-defunct block on Elle's power. Then he lifted her limp form and transferred her as gently as possible to the couch – he might not _like_ Elle, but neither did he hate her enough to leave her lying on the floor, where she'd passed out from the strain of channeling way more voltage than the human body was ever meant to handle for too long a time. "Bella was right," he murmured as he checked her pulse, "she does need help."

Claire made a noise of grudging assent; Elle needed help all right, but that didn't mean Claire had to be happy about having her around. "Maybe you can block her ability permanently," she suggested. "You'll need to anyway so you can go back for Bella – somehow I doubt she wants to stay with Angela."

"I'm not as good at blocking as Bella, but I'll try," Peter said doubtfully. "Should hold till I can bring her here to reinforce it anyway."

_BPOV_

When Peter teleported Elle away I blew my breath out in a sigh of relief – only to suck it back in when Angela Petrelli's scarlet-clawed hand clamped down on my shoulder. "Mrs. Petrelli!" I gasped, whirling to face her. "You scared me!"

"My apologies, dear." The words were mild enough, but there was a strange tension in her tone and eyes; I felt myself tensing up as well. "I need to speak with you alone, before Peter returns."

_Whatever she has to say you don't want to hear it – this is bad, this is very bad, _an agitated little voice chanted in the back of my mind. Ignoring it as best I could I asked, "About what?"

"I understand from Claire that you've become quite close to my son, correct?"

"That's correct," I said tersely, my nerves making me more formal than usual.

Angela pursed her lips. "I'll be frank with you, Miss Swan. I don't approve, and I want you to end your relationship with Peter."

Outraged, I threw Angela's hands off in a jerky, abrupt motion. "No way! I love Peter – I'm not breaking up with him just because _you_ disapprove! It's none of your damn business anyway."

Using more strength than I would have guessed she had in her, Angela seized my upper arms, her long nails digging painfully into my skin. "How much do you know about me, Miss Swan?"

"I know you're hurting me," I grunted, wincing – what was up with Peter's parents' fondness for manhandling me? "And I know about how you tried to kill Arthur. Are you planning to force-feed _me_ poison now and bury me in one of the back flowerbeds?" I wouldn't quite put it past her…

Brushing the question off as too ridiculous to bother answering – I wished I could assume it was ridiculous too – Angela continued, "So, I take it you do _not_ know where my 'talents' lie?"

As a matter of fact I didn't but, wanting to wipe the smugness off Angela's face, I checked her over once more, this time utilizing my special sensitivity to the abilities of those around me. "Your dreams," I said triumphantly, enjoying her obvious surprise. "You're a precog."

"Yes I am, and I've seen your future, Miss Swan. I know what'll happen – what you'll become – so believe me when I say that Peter will be better off without you. Now if you love him as much as you claim to, how about you do him a favor and _stay away from him_."

Suddenly Angela's hands flew off me and were telekinetically pinned to her sides. "How about you don't say another word to her?"

My jaw dropped; I hadn't noticed Peter's arrival, but he'd obviously got here in time to hear what his mother told me and get mad about it.

"Peter, you don't understand-!"

"I understand perfectly, Mom. You don't want me with Bella and you'll say anything to get rid of her, won't you?"

"Peter…"

"No! I'm done listening to you! Bella, let's get out of here." I hurried over to him, and he gave his mother one last disgusted glance before sweeping me up and taking off at Daphne-speed.

Manhattan Island blurred past in seconds until we reached the Hudson River, but Peter didn't slow down; instead he leapt off the edge of a pier and flew on. I now had a good idea of how it would feel to be strapped to a rocket as it blasted off. The speed was as terrifying as it was exhilarating, but I knew Peter needed it – needed to work off his anger at Angela. I also knew that I was perfectly safe, so I just watched the ground pass far below and enjoyed the feeling of him holding me as we streaked through the sky toward home.


	7. Intervention

**There're a few warnings I have to dish out before letting you read this chapter, for the following possibly disturbing or offensive content: suicidal thoughts/behavior, some very brief macabre imagery, and general depressiveness. So, now that I've warned you, don't blame me for bumming you out. You don't HAVE to read it, after all (but if you do then review please)! **

Chapter 7: Intervention

At 6:47 AM, while the sun was still in the process of clearing the horizon and Peter Petrelli and Bella Swan were making their way from New York to Washington, not as fast as they could have traveled but still considerably faster than the average person, six out of the seven members of the Cullen family were also flying – in an airplane, as their various talents regrettably did not include self-propelled flight. Their destination was South Africa, and as for the reason they were traveling there on extremely short notice: it had all started a half-hour ago, during a beach volleyball game of all things.

_Flashback – Isle Esme_

Shortly before dawn, the Cullens had swam back to their vacation spot on Esme's private island after hunting on the mainland and divided into teams – Alice, Jasper, and Esme vs. Emmett, Carlisle, and Rosalie – for a volleyball match on the beach. Midway through the game something very unusual happened: Alice froze up, her wide eyes glazed over as she stared at something none of the others could see, her body stiffened to a statue, and didn't even notice when the ball sailed over the net and bounced off her head. Very unusual indeed.

Her vision was gone as quickly as it had come, but the horror in her face remained. Jasper was at her side immediately, holding her as he asked, "Alice, what is it? What did you see?"

She turned huge, panic-filled eyes up to his concerned ones, letting him calm her as much as he was able to in the wake of her latest precognitive glimpse. "Edward," she whispered. Her voice trembled; she cleared her throat and tried again. "It's Edward," she said more clearly. "He's somewhere in Africa, and he's in trouble. We have to go _right now_."

_End Flashback_

By the time the Cullens landed in South Africa's largest international airport, it was obvious exactly where in Africa Edward was – they caught his scent in the same second that they disembarked from their plane, so fresh that they knew he must be in the building. "Whatever trouble he found here, it can't have been _that _bad," Rosalie observed. "But what's he doing here?"

Alice found the answer in Edward's immediate future. "He's here to catch a flight to Italy…and it begins boarding in fifteen minutes! Carlisle, we _have_ to stop him from getting on that plane!" She set off at a fast walk with the other five right behind her.

"Italy? Why the hell would Edward wanna go there?" Emmett wondered.

_Flashback – last night, just after sunset_

_Edward & Victoria_

"No…please no… Oh, Bella…"

Watching Edward crumple to the ground as if all the life had been drained from him the same way all the blood had drained from Bella's mutilated corpse, Victoria let out a low laugh – her revenge had worked better than she'd ever dreamed. "I can see hunting down your mate instead of you was the right choice," she gloated. "Now you know how I felt when you and your coven killed James over that worthless little _human_!"

Edward looked up, roused by the sound of Victoria's high, girlish voice. His own was cracked and rough with tears that he was no longer capable of shedding as he said, "Kill me. Without Bella I have no reason for existing anymore. Please, just end it!"

Victoria paced slowly in a circle around him, chin in one hand and fingers tapping on her cheek as she pretended to consider his request. "Want me to end it, hmm? Well, I _could_… I could probably kill you even if you _didn't _want me to – honestly, have you seen the shape you're in?" Her nose wrinkled as she eyeballed Edward's uncombed hair and his clothes, which had once been nice but had gotten dirty and wrinkled from weeks in the African wilderness despite the fact that vampires never produced sweat. "You look like a bum! I believe I'd actually be doing you a favor…and why would I want to do that? You murdered James! Now I have to live without him forever, so why shouldn't I make you live without your human?"

"It isn't the same thing at all! James never loved you," Edward hissed. "He kept you around because your instincts, your uncanny knack for escaping were useful, but you were never more than a convenience to him – I would know. Bella and I loved each other."

A slender white hand flicked out, slapping Edward across the face soap opera style. "You liar!" Victoria stood there fuming for several minutes until she reined in her fury, then continued in a calmer tone. "If you loved the human so much you should have changed her into one of us. Then she would be with you now instead of in a box under six feet of dirt, being eaten by worms…"

Snarling wordlessly, Edward jumped to his feet and launched himself at Victoria – but as he'd said, she was a talented escape artist. The redhead leapt nimbly out of his reach, her unruly hair dancing like fire around her face. Edward lunged at her again, growling, teeth bared; Victoria knew then that she'd gone too far in taunting him with the image of his lost love's body decaying in her coffin. For that, he wouldn't stop until Victoria joined the girl in the afterlife. "Until next time then, Cullen," she decided and fled, orange hair streaming behind her like a banner, with an infuriated Edward in hot pursuit.

He chased her over seventy miles in eighteen minutes before realizing that even if he caught her, prolonged lack of blood had made him too weak to finish her. If it came to a fight, the most probable outcome would be _his_ death – he would welcome that, but then he wouldn't be able to avenge Bella. So he reluctantly abandoned the chase in favor of hunting, although his current surroundings presented fairly unexciting options for prey. There were no mountain lions in this part of Africa, and bush pigs were a poor substitute. Still, blood was blood, and he needed it.

Once he'd fed he tried catching Victoria's scent again, only to discover that she'd pulled yet another successful Houdini act; her trail led him on a wild goose chase of some few miles and then stopped cold, leaving him no clue where to go next. _Now what? I suppose I can start my hunt for her over again, except…_

Except learning of Bella's demise had sapped what little drive he'd had left. Even the idea of wreaking revenge on Victoria failed to stir anything in Edward – whatever he did to the redhead, Bella would still be dead, gone, lost to him forever… So why bother when nothing could bring her back?

All Edward wanted now was to join her in death, although he couldn't say he expected to be reunited with her in the hereafter. Bella would of course be in heaven, while _he_ would go straight to hell after drawing his last breath. If he hadn't already been damned for being a soulless monster and a murderer, he had certainly earned eternal punishment by dragging Bella into his world, fully aware that it was far too dangerous for her and putting his own selfish desires above her safety anyway, and then leaving her unprotected. _If I hadn't been so selfish, so _stupid_, she would be alive now. She's dead because of me… I might as well have killed her myself!_

He wasn't sure how he was going to live through the next minute with that knowledge; living with it forever was out of the question. Edward knew what he had to do now – what he _should_ have done sooner, before he'd had a chance to destroy an innocent girl's life: he had to end his. A year ago, when Bella's death had seemed imminent, he'd planned for just such a contingency; now the time to put that plan into action had arrived.

_I still have my passport and money – I'll run to the nearest international airport and catch the next flight to Italy – the Volturi will end it for me. If they won't do it as a favor to me I can force their hand, I can… I'll figure that out later. As long as it gets me out of this hellish mockery of life, I don't care what I have to do!_

_End Flashback_

So now Edward sat in an uncomfortable plastic seat of the butt-numbing variety commonly found in airports, waiting with several other passengers while the plane that would carry them to Italy fuelled up. Although the waiting area was crowded, both of the seats on either side of Edward were unoccupied; an almost tangible aura of abject misery permeated the air around him, holding the crush of humans at bay, which suited the vampire perfectly. Everything was going along fine until, from the crowd's meaningless babble, Edward's sensitive ears happened to pick out a single sentence: "Italy? Why the hell would Edward wanna go there?" uttered in a deep voice he would recognize anywhere.

_Emmett! If he's here it must mean Alice… Oh, hellfire and damnation! _He jumped up, wondering whether he could evade Alice by randomly choosing one of two possible ways to run – his gold eyes swept the terminal – and he realized there _was_ no way of escaping his family. All six of them were there and they had all the exits covered, unless Edward revised his plan to crashing through the large bulletproof plate-glass window, and never mind that the sun was up…

No sooner had the idea flitted across his mind than Alice's sharp thought-speak sliced the psychic ether: _Edward, I know what you're trying to do and I won't let you! _We _won't let you. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way… _

Edward tracked Alice's mental 'voice' – so much more potent to him here than her scent – to its source and, once he was in sight of her, raised his hands to chest height to signal that he would come quietly.

"I already knew you would," she said as he reached her.

"Edward, you look just awful," Esme fussed, plucking at the tattered sleeve of her son's jacket. "What _have_ you been doing for the last eight months?"

"Tracking Victoria," he replied tersely. "Last night I found her."

"And did you…?" _…Kill her?_

"No. She escaped, again."

Carlisle gripped Edward's shoulder so tight it was almost painful, even to him. "It's just as well. Time now for you to come home, son. Come back to us. Please."

_Yes, come home, Edward, _Alice told him privately. _I'm keeping an eye on you, so you can just put that _other _thing out of your mind. I'll never let you get away with it, you know. _

###

"Why, Edward?"

The minute the Cullens had arrived 'home' – it wasn't their mansion in Forks but that place wouldn't feel like home anyhow without Bella – Edward had retreated to his room and had stayed there ever since. He would have preferred to be left alone there, except now Alice had seen fit to inflict her unwanted company on him.

She slid through the doorway, shut the door behind her, and repeated in a voice so low no one else could overhear, "Why? You've never been suicidal before, so why did I see you going to the Volturi and asking to…to _die_?"

For a moment he considered ignoring her; she killed that notion by saying, "I'm not leaving till I get an answer, Edward."

"Didn't you _see _it?" he snapped.

"That's not how it works – I only foresee the outcomes of someone's choices, not what leads them to make those choices."

"You know I finally found Victoria."

"Yes, that's what you said."

"Will you do something for me, Alice? Will you try to see Bella's future, please?"

Alice's forehead puckered in a perplexed frown. "But when we left Forks you told me not to look for her future anymore. You said we weren't going to interfere in her life again-"

"I don't plan on interfering; I only need…to _see_ her."

Alice shrugged, and looked…at nothing. Two more fruitless attempts later, she reluctantly admitted defeat. "I'm sorry Edward, I can't see anything. It's like her whole future's disappeared."

"So it's true," he whispered. "I had hoped perhaps Victoria simply had an incredibly vivid imagination, but deep down I knew…"

"Knew what? Does this have something to do with why you tried to go to Italy?"

"It has everything to do with that." And then he told her everything, or at least most of it – Alice had loved Bella too, so Edward spared her the gory details. No reason for anyone else to have the horror of Bella's last moments burned into their mind as well… Edward would keep that to himself for as long as he was forced to go on existing: his own personal hell.

**So, there's my take on Edward! Question: do I lay it on too thick when I write him? He's a pretty angsty character, but sometimes when writing Edward-angst I think 'wow this is over the top'. Opinions/comments/advice, anyone?**


	8. Between You and Me

**Warning: adult content in this chapter! Probably tame by some standards, and this story IS Mature-rated, but I still consider it my duty to give you a heads-up. **

Chapter 8: Between You and Me

_Forks, WA_

_BPOV_

Peter brought me to his and Claire's house, where we found her standing guard over an unconscious Elle. "Tell me you didn't knock her out," I said, half-amused, half-dismayed.

"I didn't knock her out," Claire deadpanned. "Her power did that after she was taken away from you. Peter did his best to block it, but-"

A tiny spark arced between Elle's thumb and middle finger, causing her hand to fall so that her fingertips brushed the carpet, singeing it.

"-He says that you're much better at blocking abilities than he is," Claire finished, folding Elle's arm back over her stomach.

I put my strongest permanent block on her power, then sat studying her face; it was much prettier when she was asleep and not glaring daggers at everyone. "I've never seen anyone's ability start hurting them this way. I wonder what happened to her that caused it..."

"Good luck figuring it out. If you don't need me here anymore, I think I'm going out." Claire proceeded to do just that, pausing only to grab her jacket and car keys.

I watched her go, feeling confused and - irrationally - a little hurt even though it obviously wasn't me she wanted to get away from. "What's her problem with Elle anyway?" I asked Peter.

"It's a long story. They first met when Elle was still with Primatech, and she was part of a team that kidnapped Claire so they could use her blood as a cure for the Shanti virus."

"But you destroyed-"

"This happened before," Peter explained. "Elle's father, Bob Bishop, was also on that team, so Noah Bennet captured Elle and arranged to trade her for Claire. During the exchange, Elle blasted Claire as she was leaving; Noah shot Elle in the arm, and then...that was when he was killed."

I shivered; just because he'd been revived by Claire's blood didn't make it any less disturbing. "It wasn't Elle who killed him, was it?" I asked quietly.

"Claire never told me who did that. I don't _think_ it could've been Elle since she'd just taken a bullet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had been. She has a nasty sadistic streak."

There was something in Peter's tone when he said it that made me ask, "How do you know that?" He hesitated; I had an idea he was thinking up some excuse for dodging the question. "Tell me," I insisted.

"All right. You know that after I exploded I spent four months locked up in Primatech's Level Five, supposedly waiting for them to develop a 'cure' to get rid of my powers for good. Of course it turns out the cure was here in Forks all along." He grinned at me.

I didn't smile back. "I already know this; Level Five was where you met Adam Monroe, escaped after he convinced you that they really just wanted to lock you up forever, and so on. You've told me this, Peter."

"I left out some things - it was Bob and Elle who put me in Level Five, and while I was there Elle visited me in my cell every day. She was only supposed to bring me the drugs to suppress my powers, but that wasn't all she did."

A finger of ice crawled up my spine. "You said she has a sadistic streak," I whispered. "Did you...find that out then?"

Peter nodded, his eyes hardening as he looked past me to the blonde. "She kept shocking me - not enough to do any damage, just to hurt...and she _liked _doing it."

I was speechless for several minutes; when I could speak again my voice was strangled. "That is... That's just awful! When I saw what she could do I knew she was dangerous, but I never guessed that she would...enjoy..._torturing _people like that."

"I know. She looks harmless, doesn't she?"

"Appearances are deceiving." I paused. "Do you not want her here? She shouldn't be in pain from her ability anymore, so I can tell her to hit the road if having her here is...too difficult for you." I hoped it wouldn't be, or if it was that Peter would volunteer to kick Elle out himself. I was no good at that sort of thing, though I thought I could do it if I drew heavily on my numerous experiences of indirectly telling Mike Newton to get lost whenever he asked me out.

"It's not too difficult for me. If she tries anything, I can handle her now. I'm just curious; you talk like you think she'll be here awhile. What d'you think she's gonna do here?"

"Well, I- I thought that I could...you know...help her, maybe - find out why her power started hurting her and help her fix it." I felt my face growing hot under Peter's gaze. "You think it's a stupid idea, don't you?"

"Not at all. I think you've probably got the best chance of anybody at reaching her; she seems to have a pretty good rapport with you, whereas Claire's only interested in reaching Elle with her fists, and I... Let's just say my last run-ins with her weren't all that friendly."

"How so?" I prompted.

"She wasn't happy when I escaped from Primatech," Peter elaborated. "She set me on fire. Then she showed up with Claire at Pinehearst, just in time to watch me get thrown out the window. Claire tried to get her to leave with us, but she went inside instead."

"I think she would agree that was a mistake now."

"Yeah. But look, enough about Elle Bishop; she obviously won't be waking up anytime soon. Till Claire comes back, looks like we're on our own."

I was certain Claire wasn't coming back for a long while; the only question was whether my certainty came from how well I knew my best friend or because of the mysterious new bond created between us by the catalyst that lived in our blood. I hoped it was the former. The latter was strange even for me - and I considered myself more desensitized to strangeness than the average person. At that moment, I resolved that it would be a very cold day before I explored anything to do with the catalyst, Suresh's formula, or anything like it again. I would put the whole Pinehearst episode behind me and focus on having a nice, relaxing summer before starting college...

"Bella?"

"Sorry, I just zoned out for a second."

"No wonder - you look tired."

"You too. That's what staying up all night to blow up evil companies will do to you," I noted wryly, earning a soft snicker from Peter.

"I'll take you home so you can go to bed," he offered.

It was a considerate but unappealing suggestion. "I don't know if I really want to be alone after the night we just had. I'd rather sleep with you." Color flooded my face as I noticed the double meaning in what I'd said. "I meant 'sleep' as in eyes closed, state of suspended consciousness, not...the other thing that statement could be interpreted to mean," I stammered.

"Well, that's disappointing."

In our time together, I'd become somewhat adept at reading Peter - enough to know that he wasn't truly disappointed, just teasing me...or was he? Suddenly, I realized I didn't _want _him to only be joking. "Maybe I should reconsider, then. But you have to promise you won't disintegrate my clothes this time."

###

As promised, all clothing was left intact, albeit discarded carelessly, until at last nothing remained between us. There was only me and him, closer than we'd ever been except for a single night a little over two months ago - but this was better. Whether it was because this wasn't my first time or because this time I wasn't traumatized by having recently returned from the dead, there was no pain involved now - just me and Peter, the friction between us building until finally we hit breaking point. My spine arched, my whole body went rigid and I felt myself come apart, shattering into a million white-hot, jagged-edged pieces. I'd felt this once before, and it was as terrifying as it was thrilling, because for this moment that spanned an eternity everything, even me, was entirely beyond my control...

...Then I felt Peter's sweaty forehead rest against mine as he told me in a hoarse whisper that he loved me, and it all fell back into place. I relaxed, let go of the sheet balled up in my fist, and raised a hand - mostly back under control and only slightly shaky - to run my fingers through his hair and pull his head down. He slid my bra strap out of the way, pressed his lips to my bare shoulder, then gave into the pressure of my hand on the back of his head and lay down.

He'd never lain on top of me this way before, yet I found I didn't mind; it was comforting rather than smothering. _How did I ever live without this? _I wondered. Distantly, I wondered if being with me was this good for Peter, but as my exhaustion from the past sleepless night washed over me I realized that discussing his feelings would have to wait. I didn't really want a conversation right now anyway - all I wanted was to lie here, perfectly happy for once.

_9:16 AM_

I jerked awake, disoriented and frightened by the nightmare from which I'd awoken. "What? Where...?" I mumbled.

"Bella, wake up!"

I shook the last confused dream images out of my head and looked up to find Peter leaning over me, looking worried. "I'm awake. What happened? I didn't wake you up, did I?" I asked, horrified.

"Yeah, you did. You were muttering a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand and thrashing around - it wasn't the kind of thing I could really sleep through," Peter told me with just a hint of his usual dry humor.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry. I _always _talk in my sleep, and when I have nightmares I tend to go all over the bed too. At least tell me I didn't kick you or something," I begged; my other antics were embarrassing enough.

"You didn't. Will you tell me what your nightmare was about?"

"Do I have to?"

"Considering that you woke me up, it seems like the least you can do."

Despite the warmth of Peter's body next to mine, I shuddered. "Arthur. In my dream he came back to get me, because it was my fault Pinehearst got blown up. Peter... You don't think there's any way he could've survived, do you?" _Please say no, please say no..._

Peter stopped to think about it, then hesitantly answered, "I don't see how, but I can't be sure. I've thought he was dead and been wrong once already, remember? But even if he's somehow still alive, I promise he will never get his hands on you again, _ever_."

"I believe you." I really did; it was hard to think there was the slightest possibility of anybody being able to hurt me as long as I had Peter to protect me. And if I found the key to solidifying my shield as I had done in my last altercation with Arthur...maybe then I could protect him as well. "Thank you, Peter. But you know, if Arthur ever were to come back, it wouldn't just be me needing protection. If Charlie had been home when Knox and Flint broke in..." My voice trailed away as Charlie crossed my mind for the first time in days. "Oh my God, Charlie!" I bolted upright, yanking my sole remaining undergarment back into place. "I've gotta get home!"

Peter caught my arm, keeping me where I was.

"Peter, let go of me - I haven't been home in almost a _week_ - Charlie must be frantic-"

"He isn't."

Those words were spoken so quietly I almost didn't catch them; when I did I couldn't comprehend them. "What do you mean, 'he isn't'? The front door was blasted to smithereens, my bed was thrown across the room,_ I_ was gone, obviously kidnapped - how could that _not _worry Charlie?"

Peter didn't reply right away; he dropped his gaze, almost as if he were... what, ashamed? Finally he said in a low voice, "The Chief isn't worried because he doesn't know that you didn't leave on your own. He's...forgotten...about the broken door and your bed, too."

"Forgotten?" I repeated incredulously. "No, I think something like that would stick in his memory unless... Hang on." My eyes narrowed. "You _made _him forget, didn't you?" I should be angry with Peter for erasing my father's memory, I knew, but for some reason I wasn't. I tried to convince myself this was because I was grateful that Charlie had been spared the stress, not because sex turned me into a big marshmallow - even though it sort of did. "So where does he think I've been all this time? I need to get my cover story straight before I see him."

"You're taking this well," Peter remarked.

I shrugged. "This is hardly the first time I've had to hide the truth of certain events from my dad; the only difference is that none of the Cullens could erase memories or create false ones, so it was all down to our acting ability. Anyway, no, I'm not sorry Charlie doesn't remember what happened the day I disappeared - what good would that have done? All it would've accomplished is worrying him sick; I've done that to him too often already. Now tell me where he thinks I went, please."

"He thinks you've been visiting some university with Claire to decide if you want to go there. But, Bella, I had another reason for erasing your dad's memory besides not wanting him to wonder where you were."

My breath caught in my throat. "What are you talking about?"

Peter reached behind me for a small object on the nightstand that had previously gone unnoticed. "This."

He handed it over for my examination, and I curiously accepted it. Upon inspection it proved to be nothing more than a warped lump of black plastic. I mentioned this to Peter, whose response was, "Look closer."

I obeyed, puzzled, and saw what had escaped me at first glance. "It looks...like a cell phone. It's all melted now, but you can tell that's what it used to be. What happened to it?" _And what does it have to do with Charlie? _

"It used to be _my _cell phone. The day Knox and Flint took you, Claire called your house while the Chief and I were having lunch, and when nobody picked up she called me. I asked your dad whether he knew if you'd gone out, but he said you were grounded and that you wouldn't have left without permission when he specifically told you not to. We both had a bad feeling about it, so we went to your house - I don't even remember whose idea that was, it's all kind of blurry - and when we got there we found the place wrecked, like you said. You weren't there anywhere, and it was pretty obvious that leaving wasn't your idea-"

Peter broke off so abruptly it was disconcerting, since I'd been hanging on his every word. "And?" I prompted.

"Sorry, it's just that this hasn't happened to me in so long..."

"_What _hasn't?" I all but shrieked; the suspense was killing me.

"My control slipping hasn't happened in a long time - at least not in a big way. Okay, there was that time I set the kitchen table on fire, but that's nothing compared to producing accidental radiation."

I could feel my eyes widening to saucer-like proportions. "You mean to say...?" I whispered.

"Somebody tried calling me at exactly the wrong minute and when I picked up, I fried my phone," Peter completed the thought for me. "That was when I realized what was going on, but I couldn't stop it. It's ironic - if you'd been there you could have, but the whole reason that happened was because you _weren't_ there!"

"Huh?" I was utterly nonplussed.

"Back when I first absorbed that power from Ted Sprague, before I got it under control, it only activated when my adrenaline was up - when Claire ran away from me and when I realized Nathan wanted the explosion to happen and after I fought Sylar."

"You've been in some very adrenaline-intense situations since then, though."

"That's true," Peter said grimly, "but not like that day. You were gone - for all I knew you could've been dead! The way that felt... I still shouldn't have lost it like I did. A lot more people would've died if I'd gone nuclear - _again_."

"But you didn't. You stopped it."

"I wish."

Now I was confused. "But- but the town's still here..."

"Claire tried to get me to cool down, but because she doesn't have your power there wasn't much she could do. This entire town would have been wiped out if it hadn't been for the Chief."

"_Charlie_? What did _Charlie _do?" Maybe my astonishment was misplaced - I supposed it did take a certain amount of guts to become a police chief, even in Forks - but I was still having a hard time reconciling the idea of Charlie preventing the destruction of Forks with my mental image of him.

"Don't look so shocked, Bella. It was really just dumb luck that he walked in when he did and had his gun out."

"Charlie _shot you_?" My voice rose through several octaves; Peter winced.

"Could you take it down a notch before you break the windows?"

I lowered my voice and attempted to speak more calmly. "I'm sorry, it's just that Knox told me that if you got shot in the head, that you...you wouldn't be able to heal."

"That's true. Lucky for me, Charlie shot me in the chest, not the head. You should've seen his face when the wounds closed up... Erasing it from his memory was the kindest thing I could do for him."

"Yes, I would imagine so. Thank you for telling me about this - it's good to know Charlie's okay." Suddenly, I remembered that we hadn't been on the very best of terms prior to my abduction; I had after all been grounded. "Say, Peter, when you were rewriting Charlie's memories, you didn't happen to make him forget he'd grounded me, did you?"

"I did. I also made him forget why."

I was grateful for that; the memory of my dad catching me with Peter outside the Lodge was one I wouldn't mind forgetting myself. Then another consequence of Charlie not remembering that part of the evening hit me. "Wait... If Charlie doesn't have any memory of seeing us together, then that means he doesn't know anything about...us...right?" I groaned. "Why'd you do that, Peter?"

"You didn't want him to know."

Of _course_ there had to be some reason behind Peter's actions that made it impossible for me to be upset with him. Really, it was sweet of him to care so much about honoring my wishes even though I knew that in this instance he disagreed with them. I let myself fall on my back and glared up at the ceiling. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your going along with what I want..."

"But?"

"But I've realized that you were right - hiding what's between us from Charlie was wrong of me." I sighed. "Now I'll have to tell him all over again."

"You mean I did that for nothing?" Peter demanded.

Sensing that he was about to comment on how everything was always complicated with me, I took evasive action. "It wasn't for nothing. At least now I have a chance to tell Charlie the right way - he never should have found out like he did. Who knows, he might not even strangle me to death."

"He won't."

"Because you'll be there to make sure he doesn't?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh no - I'm never getting in the middle of stuff with you and your dad again! I meant, look at everything you've been through and come out all right. It'll take more than Chief Swan to do you in, Bella."

**You have to admit, Bella does have amazing survival abilities. How many times has she almost died now anyway?**

**Now, since you guys have been so great about letting me know your opinions, I'm going to ask for them one more time. After I finish what I call the 'R series', should I write any more Twilight/Heroes crossovers? I have an idea for one and I want to know whether it's worth developing further. **


	9. Very Awkward Conversation

**There isn't too much action here but I promise some of this stuff will be important later. Don't skip it just because nothing goes boom. **

Chapter 9: Very Awkward Conversation

At first she wasn't sure she was waking up - if she was, shouldn't there be pain? Was she dead, then? She could feel her heart beating under her fingers, so probably not.

Moving slowly, stiffly, Elle sat up and scanned her surroundings: a room that was unfamiliar and apparently deserted except for her. "Hello?" she called softly. Nobody answered, so she swung her legs off the couch - noticing as she did that somebody had removed her shoes - and stood, carefully self-examining. Her throat was parched and her stomach felt hollow, but apart from that and her stiff muscles she felt better than she had in...oh, more time than she could keep track of. Days had all blended together in her Pinehearst cell; she didn't really know how long she'd been there.

Her escape had happened so fast that its details were a bit fuzzy as well, but Elle recalled clearly that Bella Swan, her mysterious one-time cellmate, had been part of it, as well as...Peter Petrelli and Claire Bennet? Assuming her memory wasn't playing tricks on her and they really had been there, Elle had to wonder why. _They know Bella. Bella knows them. Damn, it's a small world. _

And they'd taken her she-had-no-clue-where and left her, so what was she going to do now? First she tried blasting a lamp, with no result; her powers were gone, as she'd known they must be the minute she realized she was still alive but no longer in pain.

Elle's knees buckled, sending her sprawling back onto the sofa. Her ability was gone - not just temporarily blocked by Bella's presence but really gone, maybe forever. Elle didn't know how to feel about that. It was unquestionably a relief not to be shocking herself anymore, but on the other hand, she'd had her power so long that it had become a huge part of what made Elle Bishop who she was. Losing it seemed almost as debilitating as losing an arm or a leg, or maybe even worse.

_Who am I without my powers? _she wondered. Her entire life up until a few months ago had been dedicated to expanding the voltage she could produce, refining her manipulation of it, becoming a perfect lethal weapon for the Company's use. Peter had once said he thought there might be more to her than 'the whole sadistic lightning thing', but he was the only person ever to think that, or to care if there was...

...Except maybe Bella. Bella had been nice. Then again, so had Daddy - when he wasn't making her feel crappy and useless, like all his time spent on her had been wasted. Gabriel - Sylar, now - had been a nice guy too, and just look what he was like now. That day when he broke into the Hartsdale facility and murdered Bob, he would have killed Elle also if she hadn't stopped him.

_You can't trust anybody, _she decided. Even Peter, her very favorite toy, had disappointed her, tricking her into thinking he was taking his drugs when he wasn't, kissing her as a distraction, then running off with Adam. That was a dirty trick he'd played; remembering it still made Elle mad. If she ever found Peter again, maybe it'd be time for some payback...

Footsteps sounded from somewhere in the strange house, letting Elle know she wasn't as alone as she'd assumed. Warily, she edged toward the sound; she'd have to be careful now that she had no electricity with which to bail herself out if she got in a bind. A quick peek around the corner told her it was only Bella coming downstairs, with Peter right behind her. Elle retreated to the couch before they saw her, although she was more or less sure they weren't going to hurt her - at least not Bella. Bella was harmless; Peter could be dangerous. Worse, now _he _was the one who had full use of his abilities, while Elle was powerless.

Peter and Bella came closer until Elle could feel their eyes on her, but she stayed perfectly still, mimicking the slow, steady breathing of sleep. "She's been out awhile," Bella said worriedly. "Is she okay?"

Elle felt Peter's fingers on her wrist, checking her pulse, then his palm on her forehead. "Heart rate's normal... No fever... Guess there's only one way to find out." He shook Elle by the shoulder. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Her storm-gray eyes fluttered open, roved over the room, and settled on his brown ones. "Peter? Where am I?" Elle whispered - her voice refused to rise any higher. Asking where she was seemed like a valid question for someone who'd just awoken, and anyway she'd have to ask it sooner or later.

Peter drew back once he perceived she was awake; it was Bella who answered. "You're in Forks, Washington. That's why there's no sunlight even though it's late morning, in case you were wondering."

"Washington. Huh." Now that Bella had pointed it out, the room did seem remarkably sunless. Elle remembered that Bella had said she was going home to a place called Forks - this must be it. "So this is home sweet home?"

"For Peter and Claire," Bella told her. "I live across town with my dad."

"With your _dad_? How old are you, twelve?"

Bella flushed. "Eighteen, if you must know. How old are _you_?"

Elle informed Bella that she was twenty-four, painfully aware as she stood that she was only an inch taller than the brunette.

"How're you feeling?" Peter asked.

"I'm starving and my throat feels like the Mojave."

"Come on, I'll make you some lunch." Bella reached for Elle's arm.

Elle slipped away from her. "After you."

###

Bella assembled roast beef sandwiches with her usual efficiency, but anyone who knew her well could tell her mind was elsewhere. Peter had a good idea of where it was: on the conversation she'd resolved to have with her father, which she plainly dreaded. Peter was actually a little confused as to why Bella had finally decided to come clean - maybe the incident at the Lodge had shown her that she couldn't keep the Chief in the dark forever? - but he supposed the why wasn't important as long as she did the right thing. Peter _hoped _it was the right thing anyway...

Elle's fingers trailed up his forearm. Even knowing that she was unable to shock him now, Peter couldn't stop himself flinching - it had become an instinctive reaction to Elle's touch. "What do you want?" he asked sharply.

"I want you to pass the mayo," Elle replied - all too innocently, Peter thought.

"Here." He slid the jar toward her just as Bella set a plate heaped with a dozen sandwiches between them, snagged one for herself, and sat down on Peter's other side.

Elle seized a sandwich, slathered it with about an inch of mayonnaise and took a huge bite, closing her eyes as she chewed.

"Is it _that_ good?"

"It is if it's the first thing you've had to eat in a day or two."

Bella leaned forward so she could see around Peter. "They didn't _feed _you at Pinehearst?"

"Enough to keep me alive," Elle said with a shrug. "Whenever Knox remembered I was down there he'd bring me something, though I wouldn't call the crap he gave me food. He said he could get something tastier if I behaved better, but he didn't like me."

"I can't imagine why," Peter muttered.

Bella elbowed him in the ribs. "Peter..."

"He didn't like me 'cause I wasn't afraid of him." The corners of Elle's mouth twitched and her eyes sparkled mischievously. "That, and I kept zapping him every time he got too close. After a couple days he wouldn't come near me without rubber gloves."

###

"Bye, Dad. See you soon." Bella put the phone down, her hand shaking slightly. "Well, this is it. Charlie said he can come home a couple of hours early." She said it like she was announcing the scheduling of her execution.

"Come on, it won't be that bad. What's the worst that can happen?"

"You have to ask?" Bella scoffed. "Charlie will kill me! ...And then he'll kill you! Or he'll kill you and then m-"

Peter put his finger to her lips. "I suppose theoretically he could do that, but it's unlikely."

She pulled his hand away. "Okay, if you insist on realism - the worst that can happen is Charlie keeping me away from you."

"Do you think he will?"

Bella looked up, her forehead crinkled with anxiety. "I don't know, Peter. He won't want to make me unhappy, but he won't understand! He already thinks it's weird that we're friends; last time he found out we're more than that he-" She blushed. "Well...it sounded like he thought you mostly just wanted to sleep with me."

"I'd say it crossed his mind."

"He _said _that to you? Charlie knows you better than that!"

"Relax, Bella, he just needed to be sure you wouldn't get hurt again. Seeing how you were after Edward left and not knowing how to help you was harder for him than I think you realize."

Bella's face turned an even deeper red as she lowered her gaze to the floor. "I didn't realize - I was so wrapped up in myself I hardly paid any attention to Charlie at all. He never said... But of course he wouldn't have. He deserves better than what I give him most of the time, and that's why I can't lie to him about us anymore. He'd find out sooner or later anyway and you can't keep erasing his memory - he should hear it from me."

"Does that mean you'll tell him everything? Everything you can do - and me, and Claire, and Elle?"

"No! Are you nuts? I don't wanna give him a heart attack! You said it yourself - making him forget that was kindest. No, me and you he can wrap his head around eventually - I hope - but some things he's just better off not knowing."

"Whatever you say. Well, I should take you home - he'll wonder why you're not there after you made him leave the station early."

###

They teleported into Bella's room and stayed perfectly still, listening. "No ESPN from downstairs - he's not here yet," Bella declared. "Thanks for the lift." She stood on tiptoe to kiss Peter one last time, then headed down to wait for Charlie.

Peter teleported back to his house, appearing right in front of Elle. "Aah! Don't do that!" she cried, dropping her glass. "Great." She bent to pick up the pieces; they flew into the trash bin before she'd touched a single one.

"You're welcome."

Slowly, Elle straightened and looked up at Peter. "Thanks," she said grudgingly. "So, did you teleport from anywhere or did you do that just to startle me?"

"From Bella's house - I took her home."

"Really? Then I guess it's just you and me now..."

_BPOV_

While waiting for Charlie to come home, I fixed more sandwiches and a salad for his lunch; it couldn't hurt to soften him up. He seemed to appreciate the effort. "Mmm... This is great, Bells. I'll really miss your cooking when you're off at school. Speaking of school, how'd your trip go?" A vague look crossed Charlie's face. "Where was it that you went again?"

"Um... New York. NYU," I quickly invented.

To my relief, Charlie accepted it without question. "Good, good. Did you like it there?"

"Had a blast," I lied again. Then, attempting to be more truthful, I added, "At least until we ran into Claire and Peter's family."

"They don't talk about their family much," Charlie interjected.

"No - you'd understand why not if you met them. So I'm thinking going to a school so close to where they live is out."

Charlie stopped eating to point his fork sternly at me. "Now Bella, you shouldn't let Claire and Peter's family issues weigh too much on _your _decisions. I know what good friends they've been to you, but that doesn't mean you have to stick with them all the time. Separation can be good for people; it's not healthy to let your life get so wrapped up with just a couple of your pals."

"They're not just my pals!" I blurted.

"Well, I can see that - you spend way more time with them than you ever did with Angela Weber, Jessica Stanley, Mike Newton... It's like the-" he hesitated for the briefest second "-Cullens all over again."

_Peter was right about the Edward thing being harder on Charlie than he ever let on, _I realized. _If only he knew that this isn't the same thing at _all_..._

Meanwhile Charlie was still talking. "...Kept worrying what would happen when you started dating again, but you never have..."

"Yeah, Dad, about my dating situation..." The words were inaudible coming from my dry mouth. Charlie rambled on until I cleared my throat and tried one more time. "Dad! As a matter of fact, I do have feelings for someone; I just haven't told you about it because I doubt you'll take it very well..."

"What? Why wouldn't I-?" Behind his perplexed expression, Charlie's mind was obviously racing, trying to figure out what I meant. I held my tongue, hoping he might spare me having to say it aloud. Not that I was ashamed of Peter, of course; I just didn't know whether I could bring myself to tell my _father_ about us in so many words. "When you say 'feelings'," Charlie said slowly, "do you mean...strong ones?"

"Very strong."

"You're in love-"

I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn't have to see his face go purple. "Yes."

"-With _Claire_?"

My eyes popped wide open. "Wh-_what_? _Claire_? No, I'm not in love with Claire! I do love her, but not _that _way, Dad! I'm in love with _Peter_."

Charlie started breathing again. "Oh, that's...that's better... Wait... Peter _Petrelli_?"

"No, one of the other guys named Peter that we know. Of course I mean Peter Petrelli."

Some of the color had been receding from Charlie's face; now it came flooding back. "Absolutely not! Out of the question! He's too old for you!"

It was almost an exact repeat of the first time this happened, if Charlie only knew. "Dad, calm down! Look, I'm fully aware of the age difference between me and Peter, but I don't think you can really say he's too old for me. He and I are both consenting adults, after all." I placed a subtle emphasis on 'adults', just in case Charlie had forgotten that little fact. "So why don't you quit yelling, and let's discuss this like adults, okay?"

Charlie's eyes bulged - I worried about his heart for a second - but I held my ground, letting him know I wasn't going to cave on this. Finally he sank back into his chair. "Okay, Bells."

"Good. Now, what exactly is your objection to Peter being my boyfriend? You can't possibly have any problem with _him_ - you know he's a good guy. Like you said earlier, he has been a really great friend to me."

From the way my father's face tightened, I knew I had hit a sore spot. "Friendship and dating are different," he said gruffly. "You say you're in love with Peter - what if it doesn't work out? I won't let anyone else mess you up like that again!"

I sighed, ran a hand through my hair, and said a silent apology to my ex. "Dad, Peter isn't going to mess me up like Edward did. Edward... Edward was a kid." Technically, he _was _seventeen; it wasn't a real lie. "Anyway, females mature faster emotionally, so psychologically Peter and I are probably about on the same level." Charlie still looked unconvinced. I let out an exasperated huff. "Peter won't just up and move to LA someday and start acting like I don't exist anymore, trust me. He's not so inconsiderate." As an empath, he _couldn't _be.

"Are you sure, Bella?"

"I'm sure. Peter and I...have an understanding." That was all I could tell Charlie without getting into stuff he wasn't prepared to deal with - such as the fact that Peter was the only person on the planet ever to see inside my mind, or all the life and death crises we'd faced together. I hoped it was enough to get the message across.

Charlie didn't argue, so I turned toward the stairs. "Bella," he called after me. I paused. "Peter went with you and Claire to NYU, didn't he?"

"Yes." I sensed Charlie fidgeting in his seat and turned back to him. "So?"

"Well, it's just... I hate to ask but... While you were in New York together...alone, except for Claire...you didn't...you know... Did you?"

"Dad!" I exclaimed, acting scandalized. "Of course not! How can you even ask me that?"

"Because I'm your father. You may be eighteen now, but I still have to look out for you."

"Well, you don't have to worry." It wasn't that bad a fib. Anything that happened between me and Peter had been perfectly safe, and he couldn't give me any diseases; I saw no reason why Charlie shouldn't remain blissfully ignorant, especially if it meant I didn't have to sit through him giving me 'the talk' again. Once was more than enough to make me wish for a deep chasm to open in the earth so I could fall into it. Besides, Peter and I _hadn't _done anything Charlie would disapprove of...in New York.

**Nothing at all... unless you count blowing up Pinehearst. But hey, surely Charlie wouldn't mind his daughter engaging in a little domestic terrorism, eh? **


	10. The Stuff of Nightmares

**I apologize if my updates are fewer and farther between than you'd like. Several of my classes this semester are rather time-consuming, and my writing's had to take a backseat to them. I will however continue to post new chapters as frequently as possible. **

**I've also been refining my plan for this story, trying to break all my ideas down into chapters for some estimation of how many there'll be, and I've come to the conclusion that there should be a total of at least 15. That's erring on the side of conservatism though - it'll probably end up being more like 20. **

Chapter 10: The Stuff of Nightmares

_Elle & Peter_

"I guess it's just you and me now... So, are you gonna show me where the bathroom is? I can actually _smell _myself."

Peter led Elle to Claire's bathroom and left her there to shower. A little over half an hour later he heard the water shut off; Elle's footsteps pattered down the hall, and then her bare shoulders came into view over the top of Peter's book. He put it aside, wondering why she had decided to enter his room wearing nothing more than a towel. "Elle, what...?"

"I don't have any clean clothes. Pom-pom probably doesn't want me borrowing hers."

An image of Claire's face if she came home to find Elle wearing her clothes flashed across Peter's mind. "Let me see if Bella can lend you something."

###

He found Bella lying on her bed, flipping through a thin book which she shoved out of sight beneath her pillow when he appeared. "Looking at something you don't want me to see?"

Bella blinked. "Who, me? Looking at what?"

"Whatever you just stuffed under your pillow." Peter held out his hand, and the book flew toward him.

Bella shut his powers off; the book stopped mid-flight and flopped onto her quilt. This only served to make Peter even more curious to see what it was. She lunged for it, only to have it snatched from under her nose. "Aha! I knew if I left this here you wouldn't be able to resist reading it forever." He rolled up his copy of _9th Wonders! _and gave her a playful rap on the top of her head. "What happened to 'comic books have no literary value whatsoever'?"

"They don't!" she insisted, blushing. "But you said I couldn't make a valid judgment on a genre I knew nothing about, so I decided I should read at least one - after which I'll have support for my position."

"That comics are just pretty pictures and don't deserve to be called books?"

"Exactly. I wouldn't have opened it if I'd known you were going to pop in on me; how many times do I have to tell you how rude that is? I hope you had a good reason for doing it."

"Yes, I did. Elle has nothing to wear and I thought maybe she could borrow something from you."

"Of course."

_BPOV_

Delving into my chest of drawers and closet, I quickly assembled everything Elle might need for a couple days until she could get to a mall. I just hoped I wouldn't have to accompany her there.

"I've never seen you wear some of this stuff," Peter commented as he inspected what I threw onto my bed.

"Yeah, I don't know how long it'll take Elle to go shopping, so I figured I should give her things I won't miss for a few days. Here, you should take her this jacket too in case she wants to go out - it still gets pretty cool after dark. Think this'll be okay for her?" I really had no idea whether my boring jeans and t-shirt style would suit Elle Bishop - a concern that went right over Peter's head.

"Sure, these should fit her. She's only a little taller than you and after her time in Pinehearst, she's probably as skinny as you."

"Skinny?" I frowned. I was perfectly aware that I looked like a stick figure next to Claire - not having her athletic ability, I naturally lacked her muscle tone as well - but Peter had never commented on my scrawniness before. "You think I'm too bony?"

"I didn't say 'bony', I said 'skinny'. Isn't that supposed to be a compliment?"

"For most girls I suppose it is; I've never thought about it much. Did you _mean _it as a compliment?"

In lieu of a straight answer, Peter kissed my forehead and said, "You look great, except for when you're sleep-deprived, like now. Get some rest, okay?" And just like that, he was gone.

I inspected my face in the mirror and found that he was right; there were purple bruise-like shadows under my eyes that made me look like a raccoon. Or a starved vampire. Realizing how little sleep I had actually gotten over the past week, I flopped down on top of my bed with a sigh. It felt strangely lonely without Peter beside me. I picked up _9th Wonders! _again, but the cartoon renderings of Hiro and Ando's misadventures failed to capture my interest; my eyes kept drifting shut. Drat Peter for pointing out how tired I was. Grumbling to myself, I put the comic book on my bedside table before curling up to sleep.

###

I woke up on a hard metal table, my eyes dazzled by a harsh white light overhead. The setting was a familiar one - a morgue I'd been in once and revisited in my nightmares since then. I was ninety percent certain that this was just another nightmare, but that certainty was no help. _Calm down Bella it's just a dream it's not real not real not real, _ran through my mind like a mental mantra. I'd gone through this several times; I knew by now that it would be best just to get it over with, and I knew what to do. It always went the same way: I would sit up, leaving my body behind on the slab, and realize that I was dead.

_Just do it. _I got up - and my body got up with me. I wasn't a ghost. I pressed my palm to my chest, felt my heart's frightened but very alive thumping.

Some strange dream force drew me to the wall as one of the drawers came open, seemingly of its own accord. I moved closer to peer into the dead man's face; my blood ran cold. It was Arthur Petrelli's body lying there, and I desperately wanted to back away but was powerless to do so. His eyes suddenly opened, his hand closing on my wrist in an exact replay of last night, but my shield was useless in a nightmare. I felt my ability draining out of me...

...And woke up, instinctively shielding myself as I frantically scanned my room, convinced that Arthur was going to grab me any second. My guts writhed like snakes inside me as my shield unexpectedly solidified again.

A series of floor-shaking crashes sounded nearby, making me shriek and cover my head; then a peek under my arm showed me that it was only my furniture slamming against the wall. When I forced myself to relax, it fell to the floor. "Okay. It's okay," I muttered, trying to reassure myself. "Just have to pick this up..." I knelt and began gathering the broken pieces of a lamp that had been knocked off my nightstand.

Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall and a second later, Charlie threw my door open. "Bells, are you okay?"

"Fine, Dad."

"What was all that banging I heard?"

"I knocked my lamp over. See?" I held up a ceramic shard.

He sighed. "You really should be more careful, Bells. Sounded like you were being murdered in here."

I released a high-pitched laugh. "Sorry."

"Hmph. Well, I better get back to the station. Try to leave the house standing." Charlie lumbered away. I listened for his cruiser while interring the lamp's remains in my trash basket and, when at last I heard it pull out of the driveway, I immediately moved to the phone and began dialing.

_End BPOV_

_Matt Parkman - New York City_

It had not been one of Matt's best mornings. He'd arrived at the station to find the entire force, from the commissioner down to the desk jockeys, in an uproar - over the explosion at Pinehearst. As one of the top detectives on the force, Matt had been sent along with several other people to aid in the investigation. Hours later, they had recovered four bodies that had yet to be identified, and the fire marshal had found traces of an accelerant. "Nope, this was definitely no accident," he informed the detectives. "I dunno what could've caused the place to go up so fast, but this was arson all right."

Matt's partner started running down his mental list of possible suspects: _a disgruntled former employee, a rival company, domestic terrorists, terrorists from another country..._

And then the FBI showed up, claiming that the attack on Pinehearst was 'a matter of national security'.

_Why is it a matter of national security? _Matt demanded after catching an agent away from his partner.

"Pinehearst had a contract with the military. The details are so highly classified that even I don't know exactly what we were buying from them, but I do know that General Grande is going to be beyond pissed when he gets the news."

Matt made a mental note to see what he could find out about this General Grande. _Now I want you to forget you told me this. _

The agent nodded dazedly and made his way back to his shiny black sedan.

###

Every detective the NYPD could spare was pulled off their regular beat and put to work searching for witnesses who could provide any clue as to who had penetrated Pinehearst's security and how they'd accomplished it. Matt didn't mind this; if there _were _any witnesses, he needed to find them so he could make them forget what they'd seen. It was just a minor inconvenience that the investigation stretched on for hours - hours in which no one was allowed a coffee break. Which wouldn't have been such an issue, except that Matt had overslept and missed breakfast.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, he made it to his favorite delicatessen in record time - and then his cell phone beeped. Frowning in annoyance, he pulled it out and checked caller ID. It wasn't a number he recognized, so he ignored it and went inside to place his order for a large ham and cheese on rye.

He took the sandwich to one of the outdoor tables lining the sidewalk, sat down, and was just about to take a big bite when his phone beeped again. He selected Answer Call - pushing the little green button with more force than necessary - and whipped it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Matt Parkman?" asked a slightly familiar female voice.

"Who is this?"

"Bella Swan - I tried calling your apartment and Daphne answered. She said I should try your cell. She also mentioned that you're part of an investigation into what happened at Pinehearst last night."

"Me and everyone else on the squad. Why're you bringing that up?"

Bella hesitated. "I just wondered...whether you'd found Arthur's body."

"We found four bodies, yes, but the coroner hasn't ID'd them yet. Why?"

"No reason. It's just that I have...call it a hunch, I guess..."

"That he's not really dead?" Matt asked with a frown.

Bella nervously cleared her throat. "Well, it wasn't really a hunch, exactly. More of a...bad dream." The last two words were spoken so fast Matt barely caught them; she was clearly afraid he would laugh at her.

Laughing was the last thing Matt felt like doing - what had transpired with Molly and his father had shown him that dreams were anything _but_ meaningless. "I can check on those bodies if it'll make you feel better," he offered.

"Thanks, Matt. Can you do one other thing for me?"

"Sure, what?"

Again she hesitated. "Well...if you talk to Peter for any reason, could you not mention this conversation to him? I don't want him to know I freaked out over a stupid nightmare."

"My lips are sealed," Matt assured her, "but I think maybe you should tell him. Not enough honesty is a big part of what split up me and my ex-wife."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I'll make sure that doesn't happen with me and Peter."

"Don't sleep with his work buddies either."

"I would never do that to him!" Bella sputtered, indignant. "Goodbye, Matt." The phone clicked off.

That very afternoon, before going home, Matt dropped by the coroner's office, catching the man just as he was getting ready to leave. He took one look at Matt's detective badge and let out a quiet groan. "Let me guess - you want to know about the bodies from Pinehearst. I've just spent three and a half hours being grilled about that by the damn FBI, and my wife will throw a fit if I come home late again-"

"This'll only take a minute," Matt promised. "I just need to know if one of the bodies was Arthur Petrelli's."

The coroner sighed. "Yeah, he must've been working late when the place got bombed. The feds weren't at all happy to hear that. Can I go now?"

Matt probed the guy's mind - filtering out his surface thoughts, which were filled with irritation at having to work late when there was a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with his name on it at home - and found no indication that he was lying. All the recovered bodies had been so severely charred that dental records were necessary for identification, but it had been confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that Arthur Petrelli was indeed dead. Satisfied, Matt said, "Yeah, have a good night."

The disgruntled city employee grumbled something in reply and departed hastily, pulling on his jacket as he went. Matt pulled out his cell and looked up Bella's number in the call log, relieved he could tell her that her concerns were unfounded.


	11. Old Friends, New Problems

**You'll have to forgive me for going off on this Claire-and-Elle-interaction kick. The masterminds of Heroes created such intriguing parallels between the two characters that I couldn't NOT explore their relationship. **

Chapter 11: Old Friends, New Problems

_Peter & Claire's house_

"Well, I'm off," Peter announced, picking up his paramedic's jacket from its customary place on the back of a kitchen chair. It was his first time going to work since the Pinehearst incident, and he wasn't at all sure it was advisable to go off and leave Claire and Elle alone together. Living in the same house did not agree with either of them; Claire seemed to be holding a grudge over one or all of the many things Elle had done to make her life unpleasant, while Elle...was Elle. She'd grown slightly less belligerent - toward Peter and Bella, at least - but she still enjoyed antagonizing Claire way too much. Their most recent spat had erupted over the _TV remote_ and looking back on it, Peter realized that leaving them unsupervised would be foolish in the extreme. "Maybe I should ask Bella to come over..."

Elle slammed the refrigerator door. "No! I do _not _need a babysitter!"

"That'd be more convincing if you said it like a big girl," Claire called from her spot on the couch, where she was enjoying her victory in the tussle over the remote.

_Here we go again, _Peter thought despairingly. He could already hear the jumble of possible retorts racing each other through Elle's mind...

...But this time she surprised him by not verbalizing any of them. Instead she smiled sweetly and said, "You don't need to call Bella. I'll be good - scout's honor."

_Ha! I'll believe that when I see it. Maybe not even then... I bet psychos can act really well..._

_If I ever get my power back... Just wait, Cheerleader... _The vivid mental picture of her setting Claire's hair on fire made an unnerving counterpoint to Elle's innocent smile.

"Just try not to kill each other, okay?"

Peter teleported to the hospital, but called Bella before going inside.

"Let me guess: Claire and Elle again? Bet you're glad to get away from them for a few hours."

"They still argue all the time, over the littlest things. Today it was Elle drinking the last of the coffee, and then the remote; they actually pulled each other's hair! I thought girls only did that on TV!"

There was a muffled laugh from Bella's end, which she quickly stifled. When she spoke, she sounded perfectly serious and sympathetic. "My offer to let Elle stay with me still stands, you know."

"And I would love to take you up on it, but it'd look weird for her to stay at your house when she's supposed to be Claire's and my cousin. You know, I think they're as mad about that cover story as anything that's happened in the past between them."

Bella sighed. "Well, maybe it'll be good for them to have some time without you around - give them a chance to do that female bonding stuff you see in the movies."

"I'm afraid the only bonding they'd be interested in involves duct tape..."

###

With nobody else there to act as a buffer, the tension Elle and Claire both felt because of the other's presence mounted until they could nearly taste it in the air. They both pretended it wasn't there - Claire remained sprawled on the couch, and Elle continued rummaging for a snack - but it showed. It showed in the nervous twitching of Claire's foot as she stared unseeingly at the TV screen and the way Elle shuffled through the fridge's contents even though her appetite had vanished. They both kept up the pretense because neither wanted to be the one to snap first.

Then Elle realized how ridiculous the pretense was. Whatever game of one-upmanship existed between her and Claire, it was obvious that Elle had already lost. She was stuck in this piddling, cold, rain-drenched town, in this house with two of her least favorite people, because she had nowhere else to go. Claire had Peter and Bella; the only person who'd halfway cared about Elle was dead. Her power was gone, and she'd even been reduced to wearing Bella's stupid, boring clothes day after day because she had no money and hated the idea of asking to borrow some. Who cared what she looked like anyway?

Suddenly, she felt she couldn't stay in the house one more minute without screaming. She made for the sliding glass door that opened on the backyard and halted mid-step, battling a feeling that she ought to ask permission to go out. Daddy didn't like her going out on her own. _Daddy's gone. No freaking _way _am I asking Claire for permission to do anything! _How many times had Peter told her she could walk out the door any time she wanted? Now she was going to put that theory to the test. She slid the door open a crack.

Instantly, she heard the couch's springs creak as Claire shifted to look at her. "It's raining outside."

Elle peered out through the glass. "It's only a drizzle; I'll be fine."

Claire got up and approached her, holding out the bulky yellowish flannel monstrosity Bella called a jacket. "At least put this on. Don't want you getting a cold." _You're a big enough pain when you feel okay, _her eyes said.

"Thanks, _Mom_," Elle huffed, snatching the jacket - anything to shut the cheerleader up. She went outside, the jacket wrapped around her shoulders, and flashed Claire a triumphant grin when she found that she'd been right; it _was _only drizzling. If there was a single perk to having her ability taken away, it was that water no longer hurt her. Elle had never been out in the rain before. She turned her face up to the gray sky, closing her eyes as tiny droplets of moisture hit her face.

Claire was having a major 'aha' moment. She had known all along that Elle wouldn't stay inside forever, sulking - or adjusting, as Peter and Bella called it. They either thought she posed no threat without her ability (Peter) or felt sorry for her (Bella) because she'd never seen Elle's mean side. Only Claire knew that making Elle's power inaccessible to her didn't make her a better person; it just made her unable to carry out...whatever devious plot had formed in her twisted mind. Because she had to be up to something, right? Claire wished she could believe otherwise so she wouldn't have to be on edge every second that passed with Elle in her house...

But she'd come too close to trusting Elle once before, when they traveled to Pinehearst together - the one and _only _time they'd been on the same side - and Elle had proven herself unreliable...untrustworthy. For all Claire knew, Elle might have invented the story of her imprisonment; putting her in a cell with Bella _might _have been an elaborate ruse Arthur cooked up. Peter insisted he would know if that were the case, but Claire was less certain - could even a telepath know _everything _that went on in a crazy person's mind?

For the last two days Claire had kept a careful eye on Elle, just waiting for her to break from her established pattern of sulking in her loft 'room' all day, except for when she came downstairs to eat. Now the moment of truth had arrived. Elle had finally gone out...to stand in the light rain. _Oh come _on_! Does she really think she can fool me that way? _

Yet, after almost ten minutes of watching Elle aimlessly roam the backyard, a seed of doubt sprouted in Claire's mind. "Enough of this." With no Peter or Bella around, Claire decided it was time to have it out with Elle. She went outside and sloshed through the overgrown wet grass. Elle didn't react until Claire spoke to her. "What are you doing?"

"Watching the clouds," Elle answered without taking her eyes off them.

"Watching the clouds," Claire scornfully repeated. "No, I mean what are you really doing? You spend hours up in the loft that nobody knows what you're doing - I wanna know what you're up to."

Elle whirled to face her. "What could I be up to? I've got no powers, no money, no family - _nothing_, okay? Even the clothes I'm wearing belong to somebody else!" She furiously wadded Bella's yellow jacket into a ball and threw it at Claire's head.

Stunned, Claire barely caught it in time. "I... I'm sorry." Whatever she meant to say, it wasn't that. Did she really just express sympathy for Elle 'Psycho-Bitch' Bishop?

"You're not sorry. You hate me. Well, guess what? I want to go as much as you want me gone, but I can't! How am I supposed to get my ability back if I leave?" She snorted. "Not that Bella's any real help. I don't think she even knows what she's doing."

"She's doing her best," Claire snapped - she wasn't about to let Elle of all people criticize her best friend. "She made the pain stop, didn't she?"

"Yes. But it's been two days and we're still no closer to figuring out why it started in the first place! All she can tell me is basically that the problem's all in my head." Elle frowned. "The stuff she says, like that my ability is rooted in my brain - she's like freaking Sylar-"

Claire slapped her. "Bella has _nothing _in common with that sick bastard!" Elle just held her cheek, staring balefully at Claire. "Okay, I didn't mean to hit you, but it's true. Bella is very sensitive to certain people's particular abilities, which is why she can be in a room with you, me, and Peter and only short out yours - not everybody's, like the Haitian. You with me?"

"So far."

"But she doesn't have Sylar's _understanding _of what we do. That's probably why she can't find what's causing your problem, just that you have one."

"A fat lot of good that does me."

Hesitantly, Claire asked, "Do you really want it back that badly?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

"Why would you?" Claire countered. "You told me you didn't want to be a Company girl - I thought you wanted a normal life, like I supposedly had."

"I... That isn't... You don't know what you're talking about! When did your ability first manifest, huh?"

"What does that have to do with-?"

"Just answer the question."

"Fine. One year ago, when I was sixteen. So?"

"So you lived without it for sixteen years. Mine first manifested when I was _four_ - I can't even remember what it was like not to have it! It's a part of the basic stuff that makes me _me_: blonde hair, gray eyes, 5'3'', generates electricity. Anyway, if you're so desperate to be normal why haven't you had Bella shut off your healing, huh?"

Claire had no answer to that.

"I'll tell you why - it's because these powers have a way of becoming part of who you are, no matter how short a time you've had them. So yes, if I could be in control again, I'd take mine back in a heartbeat. In the meantime I'm stuck here!" Elle kicked the trunk of a nearby cedar in a sudden pique of frustration.

Claire studied her, face blank. On impulse, she said, "Wanna get out of here? Just for the day."

Elle was instantly suspicious of the unexpected offer. "Yeah? And go where?"

"There's a mall in Seattle - you could buy your own clothes if...if you want." Claire shuffled her feet, feeling herself warming slightly to Elle and uneasy about it. "One condition: I get to drive."

"Okay...if Bella comes with us. I can only take so much alone time with you, Pom-pom."

Claire had turned to the house, but now she spun back toward Elle, one finger held up in warning. "Call me 'Pom-pom' one more time..."

"You'll what?" Elle taunted. "Pull my hair again? If you do, I might just rip yours out."

"It'll grow back," Claire said smugly.

###

Two hours later they were in the Seattle City Mall - when she looked back on the excursion, Elle would swear that persuading Bella to join them took as long as the actual trip. Even now, Bella wore a slightly pained expression as she stood outside the dressing rooms with Claire. "Cheer up, Bella; at least you don't have to try on stuff."

Bella glanced up at the ceiling and mouthed 'thank you', then stumbled into a circular rack as someone tried to get past her. "Oh, sorry."

"Bella? Omigosh, it _is _you! And Claire!" Jessica Stanley somehow managed to hug them both while still hanging on to her purse, shopping bags from another store, and current prospective purchases. "Lauren, look who it is!"

Lauren narrowed her eyes, plainly less than thrilled. Claire shot her an 'oh whatever' look that Bella had tried several times to emulate and then ignored her. "It's great to see you too, Jess. Wow, cute bikini!"

Jessica held up the hanger, appraising its lime-green-with-a-sparkly-pink-seashell-pattern contents. "I've spent _hours _shopping for one; the weatherman says we'll have a heat wave in a week. Just in time to warm up the ocean for my birthday party! I mailed your invitations yesterday, but I don't know if you've got them yet. You'll both come, right?"

Before Claire or Bella could reply, Elle emerged from her dressing room, raising her eyebrows at Jess and Lauren. "New friends?"

"Old friends. Claire and I went to school with them - this is Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory. Jess, Lauren, meet Elle Bishop. She's Claire and Peter's cousin from...uh..."

"Ohio," Elle filled in.

"Awesome! I was just telling your cousin about my birthday party; you should totally come too. Wear your swimsuit, 'kay?"

"Great, I'm in the right place to buy one."

"Jess, aren't you forgetting something?" Lauren asked. "If you're inviting these three, you better invite Peter Petrelli too. The party's Saturday night - Bella can't leave her _boyfriend _all alone."

"Wha- H-how do you-?" Bella stammered.

Jessica was only too happy to tell her. "Oh, my mom ran into your dad at the supermarket day before yesterday and he told her all about it. She couldn't believe you're dating a paramedic now; she asked if _I'd _known that, which of course I totally didn't." She threw an accusing glance Bella's way. "Bella! I can't believe you never told me! This is huge!"

"Sorry, I- The whole dating thing is kind of..." Bella trailed off as Jessica resumed chattering.

"Anyway, it'd be totally cool if you brought him-"

"If he's not too busy saving somebody's life or something," Lauren threw in. There was a slight note of derision in her voice, as if she thought saving lives was a poor reason for missing a beach party - which in her mind, it might well have been.

###

"I can't believe this," Bella wailed as they left the mall to deposit their purchases in Claire's car before hitting the food court. "Of all the people Charlie could've vented to, why'd it have to be Mary-Beth Stanley? She's the biggest gossip on the entire Olympic Peninsula!" Claire patted her shoulder sympathetically. "And why did Jess say I should bring Peter to her party? She doesn't even know him!"

"That's why," Claire said. "She wants to see if you've got anything worth being jealous over."

"So what do I do?"

"The way I see it you've got two choices: you can talk Peter into going with you, or you can skip the party altogether. Or you _could _go alone and be mercilessly teased by Lauren - it'd give you a great excuse to punch her."

Bella sighed. "No thank you. And today started out so good-"

She was interrupted midsentence by a man jumping out from behind a dumpster and shoving a gun in her face. "Gimme your wallets! Now or I'll shoot!"

**Which of the three do you think has the best chance of fighting off their would-be mugger?**


	12. How, When, and Why

**In celebration of the DVD release of New Moon, here's a new chapter for you to read after you watch the movie. I'm especially pleased to have finished this one because it finally begins leading into the next big conflict. Hint: vampires. **

Chapter 12: How, When, and Why

_BPOV_

My mind could barely process what was happening. One second everything was fine and normal; the next, I was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

"Okay, okay, just cool it," Claire said, much more calmly than I could have.

The thief seemed as panicky as me; his arm swung wildly, pointing the gun first at Claire, then Elle, then back at me. Claire reached into her purse and pulled out her taser instead of a wallet. "You-!" Before she could fire at him, the man's hand twitched; his gun went off less than a foot from my face.

As if in slow motion, I saw the bullet fly toward me - then it hit my shield and ricocheted. The man fell backward, his limbs splayed out like a broken and discarded doll's, and lay motionless. I dropped to the ground beside him and pressed my palm to his chest, but I couldn't stop the dark red stain spreading through his shirt. _Oh no, what have I done?_

_End BPOV_

Elle was impressed. "Bella's been holding out on us - I didn't know she could project force fields."

Claire was bewildered. "She can't."

"There's a guy with a hole in his chest who disagrees."

The man made a gurgling sound deep in his throat as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Bella began crying. "I didn't mean to... He shot at me and I panicked...but I shouldn't have let this happen!"

Claire gently pulled Bella away from the injured man. "I'll take care of this."

Bella only cried harder. "You can't."

Claire took Bella's place beside the man anyway, though she knew Bella was right; without the means to get her blood into his body, there wasn't much she could do for him. If only there was a way she could just channel her ability directly into him... But there wasn't, and his breath grew steadily shorter. "I've killed him, haven't I?" Bella asked in a small voice.

Elle put an arm around her. "Don't worry, it gets to be less of a big deal after you do it a few more times."

"A few _more _times? You think I'm going to do this _again_?" Bella pulled away, eyes widening in horror.

"Probably, if you can't control yourself."

"Says the self-electrocuting girl. What do _you_ know about self-control?" Claire snapped.

"Hey, I was just trying to be helpful!"

"Bella doesn't need that kind of help!"

"Stop it!" Bella exclaimed. "This is bad enough without you fighting!"

Claire sighed and tossed her cell phone to Elle. "She's right. Look, if you want to help, call Peter."

Elle wrinkled her nose at the phone's pinkness but took it, scrolled through the contacts list until she found the number for Peter's new cell phone and made the call. "Sorry, wrong blonde," she said in response to Peter's 'hi, Claire'.

"Where's Claire?" he demanded. Surely Elle hadn't tied her up and thrown her down someone's well...right?

"In the parking lot outside a mall in Seattle with me and Bella. Your girlfriend just killed a guy."

Peter inhaled sharply. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Hilarious as the idea of Bella hurting anybody is, no. Can you just come clean up her mess already? Her crying is getting _really_ an-" Elle was interrupted by Peter appearing out of thin air right in front of her. "Almost as annoying as when you do that."

He looked from the wounded man, who was drawing his last breaths, to Bella, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, and asked, "How'd this happen?"

"This guy came out from behind there-" Claire pointed at the nearby dumpster "-as we were leaving the mall and pointed a gun at us. He wanted money, but instead of giving it to him I pulled my taser on him. He freaked out and shot, and it would have hit Bella except that..." Unsure how to explain what happen next, she felt her voice dwindle away.

"Except that what?"

"I-it was like the bullet hit something and bounced back at him, but there was nothing there."

"Yes there was," Elle said impatiently. "I already told you, Bella threw up a force field between herself and the bullet."

"And I told _you _Bella doesn't do force fields." Elle started to argue; Claire forestalled her, addressing Peter once more. "We have the stuff in my car to draw my blood and heal him, but it's all the way across the parking lot and even if the three of us could move him, we'd never make it there without being noticed - which is where your invisibility comes in."

Once the man had been healed, had his memory modified (and his gun confiscated), and been ditched by the dumpster with a strong suggestion that he not mug anyone else fixed in his mind, Bella calmed down enough to be questioned about what had happened. Haltingly, she explained that lately her shield had begun turning solid - sometimes at rather inopportune moments - and that she couldn'texplain why. "The first time it happened was at Pinehearst, when I was on my way to Elle's cell. Arthur caught me at the elevator bank, and my - what did Elle call it? Force field? - knocked him headfirst into a stone planter; he was out long enough for me to block his powers and get away. Since then this thing's only happened a few times when I've had nightmares about him, so until today I thought it was some bizarre, I don't know, allergic reaction to Arthur Petrelli." She lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry I never told any of you about it."

"Just to double check, you say this first happened at Pinehearst?"

"Yes," Bella whispered, still looking down; Peter sounded upset.

Claire asked, "What does the timing have to do with anything?"

"It was the night after you and Bella catalyzed the formula. Damn it! I was afraid it might screw you up somehow."

Bella looked up and wearily ran a hand through her hair. "Well, it's done. Believe me, I would stop my shield acting up like this if I could, but I can't shut off my own ability. So what do you suggest I do?"

Grimly, Peter replied, "I think it's time we pay a visit to the good doctor."

_Dr. Suresh's lab - Chennai, India_

Mohinder was getting ready to leave the lab when his sharper-than-average senses let him know he was no longer the only person in the room. Immediately, he tensed up for a fight; intruders in his lab usually meant he would have one on his hands. He poked his head around a large rack of equipment to sneak a peek at the new arrivals and was pleasantly surprised to see not a troop of Primatech or Pinehearst agents, but Peter Petrelli, Isabella Swan, Claire Bennet, and...Elle Bishop? Since when had she joined their crew?

He stepped around the rack and cleared his throat to get their attention. They all turned toward him. "I hardly believe you came all this way for a social visit, so what can I do for you today?"

Peter gave a quick breakdown of Bella's problem, and moments later she was hooked up to an EEG machine. As he attached electrodes to her scalp, Mohinder explained that because posthumans' abilities were rooted in their brains, he needed to take a look at hers before he could make a valid diagnosis. She was a much more cooperative patient than last time until he approached her with a needle; then she shrank away from him, detaching an electrode from her temple. "It's only an adrenaline booster," Mohinder assured her as he replaced it.

Bella's eyes narrowed. "You gave me one of those last time, too."

"Boosting your adrenaline will cause a reaction similar to fright, allowing me to see what happens in your brain when you're scared."

"Okay." She gave an unhappy sigh. "But first you might want to push everything that can be knocked over against the wall. And you-" she glanced at Peter, Claire, and Elle to include them in the warning "-probably shouldn't stand next to me."

Mohinder moved everything not bolted down to the room's outer perimeter, and Elle seated herself on a filing cabinet with her back pressed to the wall, but Peter and Claire stayed beside Bella, each holding one of her hands. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she told them as Mohinder slid the needle into her arm.

"Are you ready?"

"Not even a little bit."

"Brace yourself." He depressed the plunger. The effect was instantaneous: anything and everything in the room that could move even a millimeter was blasted away from Bella in all directions as though she was some sort of bomb - including Peter, Claire, and Mohinder, who accidentally yanked the syringe out of Bella's arm as he went flying. The EEG readout spiked wildly as Bella's body convulsed and stiffened; she remained hooked up only because she was gripping the exam table's edges to keep herself in place.

Her outburst passed as quickly as it had come, and she sat up and began haphazardly yanking electrodes off her scalp. "I think we're done here."

Peter caught her hands, which were shaking as badly as a Parkinson's patient he'd encountered during his days as a hospice nurse. "Hey, are you all right?"

"Fine - I'll be fine." Her voice shook also. "It's just an adrenaline rush. Was it _useful_, Doctor?"

Mohinder wondered if he was only imagining the accusation in her stare. "It will be once I've analyzed the readout. Now I just need a blood sample and approximately forty-five minutes and I should be able to tell you something."

"Fantastic, more needles."

###

While Mohinder ran his tests on Bella's blood, she filled Peter in on her trip to the mall, specifically the invitation to Jessica's birthday party.

"Have fun."

"I will - Jess said I should bring you."

"But I've never even met Jessica Stanley. Why does she want me at her party?" _And why would I want to go?_

"She heard we're dating and she wants to meet you. Please come, Peter. This might be one of my last chances to hang out with the first friend I ever made here, but you know me and parties - I won't enjoy it at allif you're not there." She turned the full force of her big brown eyes on him, but he was spared admitting defeat by Mohinder returning to deliver his diagnosis.

"Good news: there's nothing wrong with you. I think we can safely say that what you've been experiencing is just further evolution of your ability, which means you can learn to control it."

"But what caused it? Was it exposure to your formula or was it using the catalyst to fix your formula? Because if it's the second one, then the same thing could happen to Claire."

"I'm sorry, Peter, I really can't say. Whichever is the true cause, it didn't give Isabella any new abilities - only enhanced what she already had." He turned to Claire. "Given the innocuous nature of your particular ability, if you do experience a similar change I doubt it will be dangerous to you or anyone else."

She took this news rather stoically, merely shrugging. "Good to know."

"Now, is there anything else I can help you with?" It was getting late in the afternoon, and Mohinder had a date with Mira Shenoy that evening.

"As a matter of fact there is." Bella pulled Elle off her perch on the cabinet. "She can't control her power anymore. I've been trying to help her, but I haven't made any real headway."

"You made the pain stop - that's more than anyone else ever did for me."

"Thanks, Elle."

Peter was amazed. He knew that Elle sometimes thought Bella rather unhelpful, even useless, yet here she was refraining from brutal honesty to make Bella feel better. Was Elle actually becoming considerate of others' feelings? _Maybe Bella really is helping her - just not in the way she intended to. _

So Mohinder drew blood from Elle, ran some more tests...and came up with zip. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see any physical basis for your problems unless... Have you had a CT scan?"

"What for?"

"Well, there's a possibility that your loss of control could be caused by some sort of lesion or tumor in your brain. Have you experienced any nausea, dizziness, or headaches?"

"Not unless you count Claire Bennet for the last one."

"Then I'm afraid your problem is most likely psychological."

Elle sighed. "Great. Thanks for nothing." Next he was going to suggest that she see a psychologist, but she knew from experience that they were never helpful. All they did was throw out nasty words like 'paranoid', 'delusional', and 'sociopathic' - and if she mentioned that her old shrinks had only made that unfair diagnosis because they were out to get her, any new one she saw would probably just add a persecution complex to her list of problems. Not that she thought she actually _had_ any real problems. No, Elle Bishop had had her head shrunk for the last time; she didn't want to see any more doctors and with Daddy gone, no one could make her.

_Binghamton, NY_

On the opposite side of the globe from Chennai, the Cullen family was engaged in a similar debate.

"You want me to _what_?"

Jasper noted that this conversation, which was only taking place because of how depressed Edward had been since his return to the fold, had in fact produced a new emotion in him besides grief: fury. Oh, the irony.

Esme stepped in before the furniture became a target of misplaced aggression. "Edward, receiving the news of Bella's death has been hard for all of us-"

Rosalie made a soft dissenting noise, causing Edward to glare at her and Emmett to elbow her.

"-Most of us," Esme amended. "But the point is, the rest of us are coping with it, Edward; you aren't."

"Of course not! The only one I've ever loved is dead because of me - please, do tell me how I should _cope_ with that!"

"We did," Rosalie pointed out. "Then you started yelling."

"Because sending me to grief and loss therapy is the worst idea any of you have ever had in all your centuries!"

Carlisle said, "I only suggested it because Alice thinks it will be good for you-"

"In the long run," she interjected. "My vision wasn't too clear on _exactly _how it will help or how long it will take, just that it will."

"You can't possibly have seen that, because I never decided I would go."

"No, I saw it after I talked to Jasper last night and we decided something had to be done for you. Everyone agrees with us, too." She looked at the others for support, and got it.

"We want you back, man," Emmett put in.

"You see me standing here, don't you?"

"Yeah, but you're not really _here_ - you're like an extra in a Romero movie."

Emmett looked so downcast that Edward found his resolve weakening. "Well...I suppose it couldn't hurt to give this therapist of yours a try, could it?"

Alice threw her arms around him. "Absolutely not; you're making the right choice, I just _know_ it. Carlisle, do you want to make the call or should I?"

Carlisle replied that he would and flipped open his cell phone, only for it to ring before he had dialed the first digit. Recognizing the number as belonging to the Cullens' friends in Alaska, he took the call. "Irina? You sound upset; is something wrong?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Laurent left us a while back, and I haven't heard from him in _months_. Is he with you?"

Carlisle frowned. "No, he isn't. We haven't heard from him either, though it's possible he couldn't find us since we relocated to Binghamton last September. Perhaps he went to our house in Forks; you may be able to pick up his trail there."

"I'll run by Forks, then. It's just that he's been away so much longer than I thought he would be - I'm getting a little concerned."

"I hope you find him, Irina. Good luck."

"Thank you, Carlisle."


	13. Spirit Walk, Pt 1

**This two-part chapter features a guest appearance by Usutu, who I know should have been killed by Arthur at this point in Heroes continuity, but pretend that didn't happen. I needed him to still be alive for the purposes of this chapter okay? **

**Ch14 will conclude the Elle-centric story arc so that I can give my full attention to developing the upcoming conflict with the Denali coven. **

Chapter 13: Spirit Walk, Pt. 1

_BPOV_

It was just after six AM in Forks - hardly an hour for any sane person to be awake, but I was already up and dressed, thanks to Peter and his darn visions. Okay, in all fairness, maybe it wasn't _entirely _his fault. I was after all the one who'd made a pet project of helping Elle regain control over her ability, and if the man from Peter's dream could do more for her than either I or Dr. Suresh had been able to, I couldn't refuse to go with her. Even if she wanted to visit him insanely early. Even if Usutu happened to live in the middle of a sweltering African desert. Even if I had serious doubts about the potential helpfulness of a Britney Spears fan, precog or not. Still, I had to draw a line somewhere - at getting high on the unknown contents of the smelly paste he offered me and Elle, for instance. "What is this stuff, mescaline?"

"It's an old family recipe." Usutu wouldn't be more specific.

I pushed the bowl away. "You know, my dad's a cop. I was always taught not to do drugs or take candy from strangers - even though that's obviously not candy - and now you're asking me to smoke something and you won't even tell me what it is."

"It's not for smoking; you eat it."

"Oh, well, in that case..." I glanced at Peter. "You're sure about this guy?"

"He popped up in my dreams, Bella - I don't actually know him."

Elle arched an eyebrow. "No wonder you're so good at paramedic-ing; you are really great at reassuring people. Depending on what's in this paste, Bella and I might actually need emergency medical attention after eating it."

"How's this for reassurance - I can take you to the nearest poison control center if you need your stomach pumped."

She shrugged. "Works for me. Whatever this stuff does, it can't be worse than what I've already gone through." Elle dipped her hand into the bowl, scooped up a gob of paste, and began nibbling.

After a nervous pause in which she nudged me with the toe of her shoe, I followed suit. Usutu's paste was the most revolting thing I'd eaten in my life; it stuck to my tongue and coated every surface of the inside of my mouth. When I tried chewing, it simply oozed between my teeth, saturating my taste buds with a flavor like rancid manure. Somehow I choked it down, fighting my gag reflex as my throat worked furiously to push the paste down. "Whoa, that..."

"Tasted like shit," Elle said bluntly.

Usutu told her, "It's the hyena dung."

"Dung? Did you say _dung_? As in _excrement_? Peter, I think...I...need..." I tried to say I needed that stomach pump now, but my tongue wouldn't work. None of my muscles would. My head spun, the mat of woven grass I sat on tilted beneath me, and I felt like I was falling although there was virtually no distance between me and the ground...

_End BPOV_

Peter caught Bella as she collapsed. Her eyes, though open, had rolled back in her head so that only the whites were visible; a quick look at Elle showed Peter that the same thing had happened to her. "Is this what your hyena dung paste is supposed to do?"

"The mix of tree roots is what causes the trance; the dung is only for consistency." Usutu laid Elle on the floor and motioned for Peter to put Bella beside her.

"Will they be okay?"

"I cannot say. I've never sent two people on a spirit walk together. I wouldn't have tried this time if your friend did not need Bella's help."

_I can't argue with that, but why did Bella have to make it her job to help Elle? _It was really a no-brainer. During their imprisonment in Pinehearst Bella had somehow become Elle Bishop's friend - the only real friend she'd ever had as far as Peter knew. And there weren't many limits on what Bella would do to help her friends, even if it landed her in a tree root and dung-induced trance. He ran his forefinger across her face, which was oddly motionless; for once she wasn't talking in her sleep, leaving him with no clue what was going on inside that inscrutable mind of hers.

_BPOV_

I landed - if I had really been falling - on thick, soft grass. Above me, I saw the velvety blue-black of the night sky, lit with a strange orange light. I noticed that the light seemed to be coming from somewhere off to my left, so I sat up and found the source: a flaming house. _What the heck? _There was a fire truck between me and it; I edged around it into a lawn filled with fireman, a couple other people I didn't know, and, to my relief, Elle. She seemed transfixed by the flames and didn't respond when I called her name. I punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Elle!"

"Bella? How'd _you_ get here?"

"Same way you did - I ate Usutu's dung paste, passed out, and here I am. Some spirit walk - it would be nice if we knew where the hell we are!" I yelled the last words up into the sky, as if Usutu would somehow hear me.

Elle blinked. "But I do know where we are. This is my grandmother's house on the night I burned it down." I gaped at her. "What? It was an accident - I was only six! See, there I am." She pointed to a little blonde girl wrapped in a blanket bearing the fire department's logo, sobbing in the arms of a sooty, frazzled man. "And that's my dad."

As she spoke, a black car that looked like something the Cullens would drive pulled up, and Bob Bishop put his daughter down beside the fire truck and strode off toward the black car. "Daddy! Don't leave me!" six-year-old Elle wailed.

"Be a good girl and stay right there for Daddy," Bob called, never slowing his pace. He reached the car just as a man with a slightly larger than normal nose and whitening blonde hair emerged. "Mr. Linderman. I'm sure you can see that this isn't a good time."

"I'm not here to ask you for anything, Robert; I'm here to do something for you. When they investigate the cause of this fire, what will they find?"

Bob ran a hand through his thinning hair, looking exhausted. Finally he said in a low voice, "It was Elle. One minute she was arguing with her mother about her bedtime and then... She has electrokinesis; she set the carpet on fire."

Linderman nodded understandingly. "Children - so unpredictable at that age. I can arrange for the fire marshal to find evidence of faulty wiring in the walls, but you know what you'll have to do in return."

"Of course. I'll bring her in first thing Monday morning."

I glanced from Bob and Linderman to the crying six-year-old, then to the Elle of my time. "Bring her...you...in? What are they talking about?" Before she could answer, a wave of vertigo washed over me. Next thing I knew I was falling again...

...Into the hallway of what seemed to be an office building. Bob was heading down the hall toward an elevator, and I automatically followed him. He didn't appear to notice when Elle and I joined him. "Hello? Mr. Bishop?" Peter had never discussed time travel with me in great detail, but I was fairly certain that time travelers were not supposed to be invisible and inaudible to the people of another time. Yet Bob never looked up, not even when I stuck my hand right in front of his face.

Elle pulled me away. "Maybe spirit walking is different from teleporting through time. Anyway, it's good that he can't see us."

"Good? Why?"

"Oh right, you don't know. Bella, this is a Primatech facility, and we don't have clearance to be here. Take it from someone who's seen what they do to trespassers - you'd better hope we stay invisible." So I stood in a corner next to the man from the past who had no idea I was there, while Elle kept her eyes on the little screen where floor numbers were displayed in glowing red. "Level Three," she announced as the elevator stopped. "This is the floor with the labs...but I don't remember ever being here."

A piercing scream hit us when the elevator doors slid open. Elle and I both covered our ears, but Bob merely heaved an exasperated sigh and moved into the corridor. We trailed after him, wincing as the screams grew louder. "Are they torturing a cat?" I shouted to Elle.

"The Company doesn't do anything with cats," she yelled back.

Bob stopped at a glass door at the hall's end, opened it by punching 04335 into a keypad, and entered. The door swung shut before Elle and I reached it, so I reopened it with Bob's code. No one noticed as we walked inside; their attention remained on the small person lying on the table in the center of the lab, surrounded by frantically beeping electronic equipment. Some of it looked medical, but some of the other stuff mystified me. What were a flashlight, a lamp, and an assortment of batteries doing here?

"How's she doing?" Bob inquired.

The doctor's reply was drowned out by a howl from the person on the table. "Dad-eeeee!"

"Elle?" I moved closer in order to see past the machinery, and sure enough it was her strapped to the table. She was a little older than the girl I'd seen crying outside the inferno that used to be her grandmother's house, but she still seemed very young - and vulnerable, especially while buried under a tangle of wires as dense as the foliage of Forks and inch-thick straps that held her as electricity coursed through her body, throwing her into wild contortions against her restraints.

"Hush, Elle. Almost eight is too old to be throwing fits like this."

"Daddy it hurts make it stop _please _make it stop!"

Bob wheeled the cart holding the miscellaneous devices closer to Elle. "In a minute, sweetheart. First we need to see if you can make this car battery run, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Daddy..."

"_Now_, Elle. Don't make me tell you twice."

I stumbled backward as a doctor readjusted some wires, hooking Past Elle up to the car battery. _I can't watch this..._ Blue light flashed behind my eyelids as more electricity was discharged, and there was no way to shut out the little girl's screams - until she was silenced abruptly. I peeked through my fingers, dreading what I might see although I knew Elle didn't die here, since her older self was standing beside me.

"She's lost consciousness."

"What was her electrical output?" Bob demanded.

A technician checked the machines' readouts. "Peaked at five hundred and sixty-eight volts. She kept that V-8 battery running for a solid thirty seconds."

Bob smiled proudly. "Keep monitoring her; I want to know if her ability can activate subconsciously."

A man I hadn't noticed before stepped forward. "Maybe we should call it a day. She's had enough."

I gasped. "I know him! That's Claire's dad..."

"No, Noah, she hasn't. My girl's tougher than that."

I heard a sharp intake of breath and shuffling footsteps, and turned to see Present Elle backed up against the glass door, looking stricken.

"If you keep this up you'll scar her for life," Noah Bennet warned.

Bob frowned, as if the permanent emotional scarring of his daughter was only a minor inconvenience. "Get the Haitian in here."

###

Our spirit walk took us through several more scenes from Elle's childhood. Present Elle clammed up more and more as her past unfolded before my incredulous eyes; by the time we got to memories (if that's what we were seeing) of her eleven-year-old self, she wouldn't talk to me at all. Past Elle seemed to be withdrawing as well, becoming a much tougher, colder person than the little girl Bob had first brought to Primatech. That girl, who had plastered her room in the holding facility with drawings of rainbows, ponies, and flowers and curled up in bed with a stuffed unicorn was gone; I watched her throw her unicorn into a wastebasket and set its soft plush on fire when she was twelve. Primatech's inmates became her toys instead, and electrocution was her favorite game - just to see how big a jolt she could give them before it left any damage. I wondered whether she had ever realized _she _was the damaged one. Judging by her twenty-four-year-old self's pained expression as she watched herself change, she did now.

_Somewhere in here should be the time when Bob and Elle locked Peter up in Level Five... Come on, show me that... _I knew it wasn't what I was supposed to be here for, but I couldn't help being curious. If a spirit walk supposedly showed things important to a particular person, then I should be able to see what I wanted, right? Instantly, I 'fell' into Bob's office, where Peter lay unconscious on the couch. Elle played with his hair.

"He's not a toy, Elle," Bob cautioned her.

She smiled. "He could be."

Peter, I saw, had been telling the truth when he said Elle had liked electrocuting him. However, he had also left out something pretty important - the shocks she gave him seemed to be her way of flirting with him. He certainly hadn't told me the whole truth about what had happened five days after Adam Monroe persuaded him to quit taking his meds, when Elle arrived with his daily pill cocktail.

"You're not gonna give me a little jolt today?"

Past Elle paused on her way out of his cell. "Why, you want one?"

I recoiled as if slapped when Peter pulled her onto his lap. "Like you said, I'm starting to like them. I'm starting to like you." I felt like I was stuck in one of those horror movie moments where I wanted nothing more than to turn away but couldn't. I could only stand and watch the man I loved kiss _her_.

When they broke apart I immediately retreated...and ran smack into Elle, of course. I would have punched her if her gray and maroon striped t-shirt, jeans, and Converse hadn't differentiated her from the halter top and black slacks-clad Elle who'd just kissed Peter; even knowing which one she was, I still had a hard time restraining myself.

My anger and hurt must have showed on my face, though. "Bella, I'm sorry! He wasn't your boyfriend then...was he? Wait, of course not. If he was, you probably would've tried to bust him out, am I right?"

"Yes... I mean no - no, we hadn't even met. But he never told me you and he had-"

"Nothing! After the drugs wore off, he was out just like that." She snapped her fingers. "He only wanted to distract me so I wouldn't notice he was spitting out the pills, I think. Doesn't seem like a big stretch to say he cares more about you than he ever did me."

We didn't speak again until we found ourselves in a van with Noah Bennet and a past Elle who looked eerily similar to the one I'd seen less than a minute ago, except this one was on her way to meet a subject named Gabriel Gray. Then Present Elle burst out, "Stop it! Turn it off; I don't wanna see any more!"

I jumped. The Elle and Noah of the past paid no attention to the distraught woman in the back of their van. "Elle, what is it? What happened with the Gabriel Gray case?"

"You'll see. Just follow the me in the white sweater when she gets out of the van. I'm staying here - I don't need to see this again."

"Okay." Briefly I wondered whether I really wanted to see whatever was so bad that tough-as-nails agent Elle Bishop seemed unable to face it. On the other hand, maybe the only way to complete our spirit walk and return to the present was by following through; this particular occurrence might also be the key to understanding Elle's problem. Everything I'd seen so far fit together like pieces in puzzle, each scene from Elle's past making me understand a little more how she had gotten where she was now. Once I'd seen it all, I would finally _get _her.

Past Elle led me into a darkened watch shop. "Hello?" she called out. A dull _thud_ from the back of the shop answered her; we ran toward the sound and walked in on a man hanging himself. She zapped the rope, saving the man's life. As she comforted him, he looked gratefully up at her with dark brown eyes - eyes I knew. _Sylar! _

**Did anyone spot the similarities between Bella and Elle's spirit walk and the pensieve of the Harry Potter 'verse?**


	14. Spirit Walk, Pt 2

**There's a slight nod to Breaking Dawn in this chapter (I hated that book and yet I can't ****entirely**** deny its existence). If you can spot it you get my standard prize: a preview of the next chapter. **

Chapter 14: Spirit Walk, Pt. 2

_BPOV_

Sylar - the man who had almost killed Peter, scalped Claire, murdered so many people, tried to murder _me_ - could have died before he had the chance to do any of that if not for Elle's interference. Why had she saved him? What could possibly have made her think _he _should be saved? For that matter, why was Sylar trying to hang himself? He'd struck me as more _homicidal _than _suicidal_. What I heard next blew my mind even more.

"A man had something that I wanted, but I took it at a terrible price." I had a good idea of what he meant by that; I just couldn't believe _Sylar _was expressing remorse. Even stranger, it seemed genuine.

A couple days later Past Elle visited Sylar, then known as Gabriel Gray, at his apartment. He demonstrated his telekinesis and showed her a list of other people with abilities while she played dumb, questioning him as if she knew nothing about our kind. "It's like a drug I can't get enough of," he explained. "I have this overwhelming hunger to... I covet the powers of others, at least until the other day. Since meeting you, I've felt like maybe I don't have to be so special - like I can just be Gabriel again."

She squeezed his hand. "But you _are _special, Gabriel. You're special just the way you are."

###

After leaving him, she ran across the street to where Noah Bennet stood by their Primatech van. I supposed Present Elle was still inside; she hadn't budged since we reached this point in her past. "'Special just the way you are'? I was afraid you were about to burst into song."

Elle looked slightly embarrassed but quickly covered it with a shrug and a smile. "I was just trying to win his trust."

"Well, we're stalling out here. We need to kick it into high gear."

_Stalling out? Kick it into high gear? _What _is Bennet talking about?_

"I don't think he's gonna kill again. I really think we should look into someone else on this list." Elle offered the crumpled piece of paper she had retrieved from Gabriel Gray's wastebasket.

Noah ignored it. "No, we stick with the plan. Mr. Gray _is _a killer - we know that. The only question is will we witness the act or will he do it in a dark alley somewhere."

"But what if you're wrong? What if his suicide attempt was a wake-up call?"

Noah withdrew from the van's open door and slowly turned to face his partner. "You like this guy. Aw, isn't that adorable? You think he's sweet, is that it?" Elle didn't answer. He took the list from her and examined it. "What about this one - Trevor Zeitlan?"

I was utterly lost. Who the heck was Trevor Zeitlan, and what did he have to do with whatever Elle and Noah were doing with Sylar? Obviously they knew what he did and that was why they were keeping tabs on him; maybe Zeitlan was his next victim? Maybe he had gotten _my _name off a list just like the one Bennet held now...

"I'm not gonna do it." Elle seemed angry, almost offended.

Noah gripped her by the shoulder. "We need to see him kill."

"I am not going to do it!"

"All right, if that's how you feel." He got her jacket out of the van and threw it at her. "Go on, there's New York City. You could, I don't know, become a waitress?" Elle said nothing. Sensing that he had her backed into a corner, Noah pressed his advantage. "We have orders, Elle. You don't follow orders, you're not an agent. You're not an agent, you're on your own. Your father has been training you for this since you were four years old. Now-" he brandished the list at her "-let's introduce Mr. Zeitlan to Mr. Gray."

I couldn't believe it. They weren't trying to stop Sylar at all - they wanted him to kill again! At least Noah did, and had coerced Elle into going along with it. Having seen how she had grown up, I wasn't surprised that she'd caved to Noah's demand. Being a Company girl was all she knew; it wasn't like she could just walk away and join the outside world when she'd never been to school, never had a job, and therefore would have no money to live on if Bob cut her loose. And I wouldn't put it past him if she quit obeying his orders.

Apparently she wouldn't either. The very next night, she visited Gray and invited Zeitlan, a weird-looking goth guy, to join them. I wouldn't have thought Elle would be his type with her blonde hair and cute, colorful blouse, but he seemed to like her; he certainly seemed smug as she gushed over the coolness of his kinetic projection ability and repeatedly called him 'special'. Meanwhile Gray was getting increasingly aggravated, until finally he snapped. "You think he's so special? I bet he can't do this." With a twist of his hand, Trevor slammed against the wall.

"Gabriel, stop! You don't have to do this!" Elle zapped him, blowing her cover.

He stared at her, realizing he'd been set up. "Who are you?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"And I don't want to hurt you." He seized her upper arm and dragged her toward the door. "So leave. _Now_."

"Gabriel..."

It was too late. I recognized the dangerous look in those dark eyes. Gabriel was gone; he was Sylar now. "_Get out_."

Elle fled with me hot on her heels, sprinted across the street, ignored the chorus of blaring horns as she barely avoided getting hit by several cars, and threw open the van's rear doors. "Bennet! Bennet, we have to make him stop!"

Trevor Zeitlan's scream issued from a monitor - I could only imagine how they'd bugged Gray's apartment without his knowledge - and Noah murmured, "Fascinating. He actually exposes the brain..." Elle took one look and turned away, sobbing.

As I watched her, I suddenly became aware that there was only one Elle in the van. What had happened to the other Elle, the Elle who was supposed to be on this crazy spirit walk with me? I began to panic, terrified that I'd somehow been abandoned in the past. "Elle! Elle, where are you?" Frantically, I scanned the street for her and came up empty. She was gone; I was alone. "No, no, no! Get me out of here!"

Immediately, I was rewarded with the familiar sense of vertigo and then found myself outside Newton's Olympic Outfitters - with Elle. "There you are!" I threw my arms around her, too relieved at finding her to care that she didn't really hug people. She remained frozen and unresisting. "Is something wrong?"

She pushed me away and demanded, "How can you not be kicking my ass right now?"

"Don't blame yourself, Elle. I don't."

"Why not? You saw what I did! Now Gabriel's gone, and it's all my fault."

"You _did_ like him then. He was the one you told me about when we were cellmates, wasn't he? The one you cared about but didn't save because it would've gotten you into trouble? I saw how Mr. Bennet threatened you when you tried to back out of the plan."

"And I gave in. I helped create a monster, Bella!"

I shook my head. "You tried to stop it, and I know you would have walked away except that your father made sure you didn't know how to function outside the Company."

Elle stiffened. "I don't want to talk about him."

"But I think you need to. The stuff he did to you - I see now how it screwed you up, but _he's _the one to blame, not you! Elle, you're not a bad person."

"Yes I am!"

"No, you're a good person with a seriously warped upbringing-"

"Just shut up! Don't you get it? I walked into Dad's office and found him with his head cut open, and you know what? When everything calmed down enough that I had time to really think about what'd happened, and the first thing I thought was 'now he won't send me on any more assignments and get on my ass for screwing them up'. I'm happier without him!" She let out a hysterical little giggle and sank to the ground, half crying, half laughing. I knelt beside her, letting the pavement abrade my unprotected knees, and just listened. "Mrs. Petrelli told me the Company only kept me around as long as they did because of Daddy, and I'm _glad _to be away from them! Dad's dead, and I'm almost happy about it. I'm horrible."

"Elle, no. Being glad that you don't have to be a Company girl anymore is not the same as being glad that Sylar murdered your dad, although nobody would blame you for feeling that way after everything he put you through." She sniffled softly. "_Do _you hate Bob, Elle?"

"N-no," she faltered. "He was my dad. But, Bella, sometimes I _want _to hate him."

Oh man, this was hard! I really had no idea what I should say to make her feel better, but I had to come up with something fast. She was my responsibility. Responsibility, I suddenly realized, was the key to everything. "Elle," I said slowly, "exactly when did you start losing control?"

"Couple days after I got fired, why?"

"You said you found Bob with his head cut open. Sylar killed him, didn't he?" She nodded, and I continued. "You said earlier that Gabriel Gray might not have become Sylar if you hadn't pushed him, so I wonder... Elle, do you feel responsible for your dad's murder? Not just guilty because you know you're better off without him, but like you caused it?"

"I did. And not just Dad - everybody Sylar killed might still be alive if it wasn't for me. He wanted to stop, and I pushed him into killing again! All because I was too chicken to stand up to Glasses. I saw what Sylar tried to do to you," she whispered. "Why aren't you angry with me?"

I chuckled wryly. "Sylar's attack was actually the best thing that could've happened - I was going through a really bad depression then, and almost being scalped was one hell of a wake-up call. Plus it brought me Peter and Claire. I should be thanking you."

Elle's jaw dropped slightly. "You are _strange_, Bella."

"So I've been told."

"You really don't blame me for Sylar almost playing brain surgeon with you?"

"I really don't. Now you need to stop blaming yourself."

"How? Sometimes I think he should've killed _me _that night instead of making me leave."

"Don't say that. Like you told him, everybody does bad things, but now that you're free of the Company you have a chance to make up for it, to start over. You don't have to be that girl anymore." I got up and reached out to her. "Let's get out of here."

Hesitantly, she put her hand in mine and let me help her up. "Is it just me, or is it getting lighter?"

It wasn't just her. Colors blended and faded all around us as the scenery began shifting one more time. Elle's hand was suddenly no longer in mine; I searched but couldn't see her anywhere, and then the world tilted ninety degrees.

###

"Bella? Can you hear me?"

Peter! I tried opening my eyes to show him I was conscious. "Are we still in Africa?"

"We are. Can you sit up?"

"I think so." My body seemed to have suffered no ill effects apart from some stiff muscles, which I supposed was from lying utterly still for so long, and itchy patches on the backs of my legs below the hem of my shorts where my skin had been pressed against Usutu's coarse grass mat. With some help from Peter, I sat up and checked on Elle. She had already rolled onto her side and pushed herself up unassisted. I hoped this didn't mean she was going to shut me out again, not after I'd finally reached her. "Hey."

Her mouth curled into a hint of a smile as we made eye contact. "Hey yourself."

"How're you feeling?"

"Stiff."

"That wasn't what I meant," I said, frowning.

"Oh, the other thing. Take your hocus-pocus off me and we'll see."

I reached out with my mind and removed the block I'd set up in Elle's mind, giving her complete access to her powers while Peter and Usutu watched anxiously. "How does it feel?" I whispered.

Electricity gathered in Elle's palm, arcing between her fingers. She manipulated it as easily as a child would a ball of Play-Doh, then extended her hand and fired through the doorway into the empty air beyond. "It doesn't hurt anymore! It doesn't hurt and I'm in control again! Thank you, Bella!" This time, she was the one to grab me and hug me fiercely. I squeezed back, astonished but pleased.

"So you're fixed. What will you do now?"

Elle's burst of exuberance fizzled out as quickly as it came. "Well...I'm still out of a job, so I was thinking...maybe I could stay with you a while longer? Just until I can figure out where to go next."

"Elle, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like. Right, Peter?"

"Fine by me."

"Besides, Jess's party is this weekend and I know you don't want to miss that."

###

Our host offered us some jerky-like strips of meat for lunch, which I sniffed carefully and then wolfed down. Peter ate much slower than me, raising his eyebrows at my enthusiasm. I retracted my mental shield and thought, _Hey, you're not the one trying to get hyena dung aftertaste out of your mouth. _

Usutu asked me to take a walk with him afterward. He claimed it was simply because I was the only other one finished eating, but I suspected he wanted to get me on my own. Bemused, I followed him outside. Sunlight blinded me and a harsh desert wind blew sand on my exposed limbs; my tank top and shorts did not afford much protection. "What are we doing that Peter and Elle can't be here?"

"I have a warning for you, Bella Swan, and you alone. You must know what the future holds, unless you act to change it." Usutu led me behind his house, to a cluster of painted rocks. Several of the paintings' subjects were people I knew: Matt, Daphne, Hiro, Flint, Knox, Arthur, and...me.

Now I was glad Peter wasn't here. He wouldn't have been at all pleased to see me with the Cullens, clearly a vampire since I was as painted as pale as them, standing outside of a fairy tale-esque cottage in the woods, hand in hand with Edward. "That one's wrong! That never happened, and it _can't _be my future!"

Usutu only shrugged. "It was a possibility at one time. Your future has changed now, in some ways. In others it's the same. Come." He circled to the rock's other side with me following at his heels and pointed to yet another painting. "This is where the path you are now on leads."

My heart stuttered. I wanted to tell him that this future was even more impossible than the last; the words stuck in my throat. My hand rose seemingly of its own accord to cover my mouth as I backed away. I desperately wished I could look away as well, but the terrible picture held me entranced. How could Peter _ever_ do this to me?

**In case you're wondering, Usutu's less than pleasing picture of Bella's future IS related to what Angela saw that made her say Peter would be better off without Bella. **


	15. What Happens On the Beach

**It's that time again - time for me to apologize for taking so long to update! I'll spare you my excuses this time because, well, I don't have any. I've been meaning to join a support group for chronic procrastinators, but I keep putting it off...**

Chapter 15: What Happens On the Beach

_Bella, Peter, Claire & Elle - en route to the beach_

"Bella, are you okay? Bella? Hello!" Claire took a hand off the steering wheel just long enough to snap her fingers next to the abstracted brunette's ear.

Bella jumped. "What?"

"I asked if you're okay."

"Claire, I'm on my way to a party, and I'm wearing a bikini-"

"Under a t-shirt."

"A t-shirt everyone will be able to see through the minute it gets wet," Bella pointed out. "That's about as far from okay as things can get."

Claire started to say that she didn't mean Bella's feelings on her current attire (she already knew her friend was less than thrilled with it) - the truth was that Bella had seemed down ever since she'd gone to see that African precog with Peter and Elle and refused to explain why. So far the one on one approach had failed to get anything out of her, so Claire hoped bringing it up in front of other people - Peter, who could always be counted on for concern over Bella's mental health and was quite adept at getting stuff out of her, for instance - would get better results. Unfortunately, the man in question forestalled her before she'd said a word.

"Leave her alone, Claire. If she wants to talk, she will; if she doesn't, no one can make her."

Bella twisted her upper body toward the backseat and flashed him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Peter. And no, I don't want to talk about anything." Then she went back to staring morosely out at the twilit landscape.

The remainder of the ride passed in relatively somber silence until they came in sight of La Push's beach; then Elle sat up straighter, craning her neck to see the ocean and shifting in her seat like an overexcited five-year-old. "You're still going swimming with me, right, Bella?" she demanded.

A reluctant grin tugged the corners of Bella's mouth. "Yes, I will go swimming with you - it's not like I could back out after promising I would _three different times_."

###

On the beach, Lauren tapped Jessica's arm and pointed out four newcomers making their way down the incline that led from parking lot to shore. "Claire and Bella're here...and they've brought their whole crew."

"Great!" Jess extricated herself from her other guests, and the two former gossip queens of Forks High went to greet the new arrivals. "Hey guys, it's so awesome that you made it!" She hugged Bella and Claire, expressed her happiness at seeing Elle again, then turned to Peter and stuck out her hand for him to shake. "Hi, I'm Jessica Stanley."

"And I'm Lauren Mallory. _So _nice to finally meet you, isn't it, Jess?"

"Yeah, Bella totally should've introduced us sooner."

Peter was kind of glad she hadn't; being double-teamed by Lauren and Jessica felt a lot like taking a dip in a pool filled with barracudas - overly _nosy_ barracudas.

"Hey, I think the guys've got the portable grill set up. Let's grab some hot dogs and then you can tell us absolutely everything there is to know about you."

"There's really not that much to tell." _Not much I'll share with these two anyway. _

Without warning, Bella's telepathic 'voice' piped up inside his head. _Relax, Peter. They're teenage girls - they don't bite. _

Easy for her to say - they were her friends. Peter on the other hand felt painfully out of place here and wished she hadn't insisted on him coming along, especially now that he knew beyond a doubt that Jessica Stanley only wanted to meet him so she'd have new gossip material; hers was one of the most transparent minds he'd ever read.

Bella grabbed his hand, leading him away from Jess and Lauren. "Come on, there're some other people I want you to meet." With Claire and Elle in tow and a slightly put-out birthday girl trailing behind them, they trooped over to where everyone not in the water or engaged in volleyball or badminton had congregated around the grill.

Mike Newton looked up as they approached and waved enthusiastically. "Hey Bella, Claire, uh-" He broke off, realizing he didn't know the other people with them.

"Peter Petrelli and Elle Bishop," Claire filled in. "My uncle and...cousin. Really _distant _cousin." Telling their cover story was getting easier, but saying Elle was her relative still left a slight sour taste in Claire's mouth. She thought she hid it well.

Mike didn't notice anyway, because Jessica chose that moment to say, "Claire, you forgot the 'Bella and Peter are dating' part." This announcement produced the desired effect of drawing everyone's attention to Jessica - except Mike's. He was now eyeing Peter with a hint of the old jealousy he used to show Edward.

"You're going out with this guy?" he demanded of Bella. "Since when?"

"Since now," she replied somewhat defensively and started to put her arm around Peter, but Elle pulled her away.

"Bella, you _said_ we'd go and swim, and it's almost dark."

"Yeah, you should definitely get your swimming done before the daylight's gone," Tyler Crowley chipped in.

Bella sighed and reluctantly agreed.

"Great!" Without further hesitation, Elle shucked off her cover-up, exposing her silvery string bikini and garnering quite a few wide-eyed stares from the assembled teenage males.

Claire turned away, rolling her eyes. _Geez, she's such an exhibitionist! _

Peter nodded in agreement, wondering whether Bella's swimsuit was that revealing - she had thus far refused to let him see her in it - and how he would feel if she decided to show it off in front of everyone.

Naturally, she didn't; she strode determinedly out of range of the firelight's illumination before removing her shirt and leaving it on the sand where she could retrieve it quickly after leaving the water. "You know the water'll be pretty cool," she cautioned Elle.

A shiver rippled through the blonde's body when a chilly wave lapped her toes, but she didn't back away. "I don't care; I've never been swimming and I want to."

"Of course you do." Bella had never cared much for swimming herself, but she supposed she would also want to do it if it she had been forbidden to.

The two girls waded out, the water rising over their ankles, calves, knees, and finally up to mid-thigh. "How do you get over the chill?" Elle asked, rubbing her goose bump-covered arms.

"Like this." Bella stretched her arms over her head, stiffening her fingers into a point to break the water, and threw herself headfirst into an oncoming wave. It curled over her, as if the ocean had swallowed her whole.

"Bella?"

She popped up further out to sea - first her head, then the rest of her body rose into view, floating atop the waves. "See? The water's fine - you just have to dive right in."

Elle took a deep breath, pointed her fingers as she had seen Bella do, and dove into the next wave. Her dive was timed wrong; the wave had already begun to fold over and crashed down on her head. The rushing water sucked her balance away, pushing her down, spinning her until she forgot which way was up and clawed her way to the sandy bottom instead of the surface. The currents disappeared down there, and it was eerily silent with water filling her ears. Hesitantly, Elle opened her eyes; the saltwater stung for an instant and then the sting faded. She had never been so close to so much water, and certainly not _under _it. _Everything's so dark and quiet down here, _she mused. _Now I know why Daddy never let me do this. _A person could get lost under all this water and stay down here forever.

A pair of pale hands, ghostly green underwater, grabbed her from behind and pulled her off the seafloor. Her head broke the surface inches from someone else's. Sputtering, Bella peeled her hair back from her face in lank, dark strings. "And then you have to come back up!"

_Approximately three miles inland_

In the woods surrounding Forks, a white figure flitted through the trees. After four days and several detours to ask any nomadic vampires she came across if they had seen Laurent, Irina had arrived on the Olympic Peninsula. Depending on how long ago Laurent passed through - if he'd even been here at all - and how much it had rained since then, she knew picking up his trail was a long shot; still, she had to try. They weren't _officially_ together yet, but Laurent came closer to being Irina's mate than any other vampire she'd met, and she had lived long enough that that meant something.

No one else in her coven had found his long absence worrying - maybe he'd run across his old friend Victoria or gotten distracted some other way, they said - time was something vampires had in endless supply, so they lost track of it easily. Irina understood this as well as any immortal, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he should have returned to Alaska by now, and that his failure to do so didn't mean anything good.

Approaching it from the back, Irina found the Cullens' mansion exactly the way one would expect to find a house that had been abandoned for almost a year: covered in dust and cobwebs. The lawn was so overgrown that walking through it was like wading through thick, muddy water, and the whole place was permeated by that indefinable feeling of stagnation unlived-in houses eventually acquired. Apart from that everything looked the same as it had last time Irina and her coven visited the Cullens here, except for a plastic-shrouded object on the front porch.

Irina peeked inside the black garbage bag and discerned that the thing inside was a banged-up stereo that someone seemed to have literally clawed out of their dash. _Who would leave such a thing here? _Faint traces of a scent, sweet and floral and human, clung to the plastic. Straining her nose, Irina followed the remnants of this trail into the front yard, where it mingled with another smell, one she recognized. Laurent! So he _had_ been here! His scent was faded to the same degree as the human's; they were here at the same time, so perhaps they had met. If only Irina knew whose scent this was...

It led her through a sea of grass to where the Cullens' yard was swallowed by the forest proper, and brought her up short at a decaying pile of charred wood. There had obviously been a fire here, but not for toasting marshmallows; a sickly sweet smell like incense lingered here - the smell of burnt vampire flesh. "No!" Irina scooped up a handful of ashes and held them to her face, letting her sense of smell confirm the truth she wanted to deny: Laurent had died here. He was never coming back. _How could this have happened?_

As if in answer, a sudden gust of wind blew a new smell into Irina's nostrils: a revolting wet-dog stench. Irina whirled around, snarling at the pair of huge lupine forms as they melted out of the shadows toward her. Another snarl answered hers, but it came from neither the black wolf nor the fractionally smaller russet-colored one who followed half a step behind him. She turned in a circle and was alarmed to see more werewolves slinking out from between trees, around the Cullen house, surrounding her on all sides. There was no way she was getting out of this one...

Two wolves, chocolate-brown and pepper-gray, sprang at her; she leapt straight up, somersaulted over the gray wolf's head, and they crashed into each other. She feinted right, ran left, smacked her open palm into the chest of a rangy sand-colored wolf, sending him flying, and took off in the direction of the beaches. In water she would have the advantage, and anyway she doubted the pack would pursue her once she was out of their territory. She would be home free if she could only reach the ocean.

_BPOV_

"Perfect! Thank you, Bella!"

"You're welcome," I awkwardly replied. Part of me felt like I had taken the cheap way out by giving Jess a gift card in lieu of buying her an actual gift, but since she enjoyed doing her own shopping she clearly didn't mind. I would have to remember to thank Claire for her brilliant suggestion later. She of course had no problem with shopping, for herself or anyone else, and she seemed to have done a good job judging by Jessica's delighted squeal upon sniffing the perfume Claire had given her.

I tried to surreptitiously count Jess's unopened presents; once she got through them all, surely the party would be over - not a moment too soon in my book. Tyler had broken out a keg of beer as we ate, and people were still chugging it although the hot dogs, burgers, and marshmallows had long since vanished. Even Claire had had a couple of drinks, though she assured me that her ability kept alcohol from going to her head and she would be okay to drive later. Admittedly, she still seemed to have a grip on herself when several of our friends were beginning to act somewhat ridiculous, telling stupid jokes, laughing more and louder than said jokes warranted, and spontaneously putting on shows of slapstick comedy. I scanned the crowd for Peter and Elle, hoping to find them and persuade them and Claire to leave soon - preferably before some of the more inebriated made their way to their cars.

A hand tipped with manicured pink nails came down on my shoulder. "Hey Lauren," I said warily, hoping she wasn't going to give me any trouble. Maybe she'd drunk enough to make her forget the bad blood between us? Yeah right - my luck wasn't that good.

"Looking for Peter, Bella?" she asked sweetly.

"As a matter of fact I am. You haven't seen him, have you?"

"I've seen him, all right. Just now. With that really distant cousin, um..."

"Elle. Where are they?"

Lauren led me away from the bonfire and pointed to a driftwood cluster a little further down the beach where Peter and Elle sat facing each other, apparently deep in conversation. I started toward them, only to stop short when Peter reached for Elle and took her hand. She made a high-pitched noise that might have been a giggle or an exclamation and leaned closer, her face coming much too close to his as his hands wrapped around her waist.

"Funny, they don't look all that distant to me." Lauren smiled maliciously. "Oh, isn't he supposed to be with _you_? Ouch!"

I turned and ran up the beach, desperate to get away before Lauren's shrill laughter drew Peter and Elle's attention - I didn't trust myself to speak to them at the moment. With no other thought than escape, I never noticed where I was going until I felt grass instead of sand between my toes and the ground began gradually sloping upward. Still I kept walking until I found myself on a high cliff overlooking the sea, and there I sat with my legs dangling over the precipice and tried to figure out how the night, which was supposed to be fun, had gone so horribly wrong.

Peter had kissed Elle once before, I knew that, but _now_? How could he do this to me? _Well, it's obvious, _said a nasty little voice in my mind. _Elle's more confident and has a way cooler ability than you - oh, and don't forget prettier. Plus she actually knows how to make good use of her looks instead of just wearing stupid boring outfits and no makeup all the time. _I felt my eyes welling with tears as I looked down at myself. Really, how could I blame Peter? He might love me, but I couldn't kid myself into thinking that he - that _any_ sane guy - wouldn't be attracted to Elle. Especially not when the guy in question was stuck with a scrawny, pallid, plain girlfriend like me.

A loud howl from close behind me interrupted my dismal thoughts; I swung my legs back over the cliff and scrambled to my feet, scraping my hands and shin on the rock. I recognized the howl as a Quileute werewolf's, but what was the pack doing _here_, so close to Jessica's party? My answer came in the form of a ghostly white shape streaking out of the woods and straight up the cliff toward me. The vampire moved too fast for my eyes to keep up; I caught only a fleeting glimpse of white skin and pale golden hair before she dove off the cliff's overhanging tip and out of sight. Caught in the slipstream created by her passing so close to me, I stumbled backward to the very edge. The stone crumbled away beneath my heel, pitching me down to the dark, churning water below.

**This is a great place to stop, don't you think? So...what's up with Peter and Elle? Will he save Bella from taking a dip in the ocean with Irina? Tune in next week to find out!**


	16. Doesn't Stay On the Beach

**Longest chapter so far in this story - I'm so proud of myself! Warning: contains B/P fluff and slight physical abuse. In the same scene. Be afraid, be very afraid! Also, a certain part of their conversation (you'll know when you see it) is my attempt at explaining why Peter ever kissed Elle, which I've never understood. I mean, he never seemed that fond of her what with her zapping him all the time, and she was leaving his cell! So why call her back in? Just one of the many things in Heroes that confounds me, so I try to make my own explanations. **

Chapter 16: Doesn't Stay On the Beach

_Ten minutes earlier_

"Time to open your presents, Jess!" Lauren announced. Jessica took the pink-wrapped box Angela offered her with a squeal of excitement, and all her guests gathered to serve as the traditional spectators to the gift-opening ritual. Even Bella succumbed to the gravitational pull of the group, drifting away from Peter's side for the first time since she came back from her swim with Elle.

He briefly considered following her until he heard Jessica - and all her girlfriends - squealing _yet again _over whatever was in the package she'd just unwrapped. No, he definitely did not feel like sticking around to hear endless exclamations of 'wow, Jess, that's awesome!' and 'omigosh, I love it!'. Surely Bella wouldn't miss him for a few minutes, and she was his only reason for being here at all. Pausing only to grab another drink, he made his way down to a part of the beach that was perpetually littered with driftwood; it also happened to be where the conversation with Bella that had begun their whole relationship had taken place.

To his surprise, he found Elle seated on a log there, sipping her beer and shooting the occasional pensive glance toward the cadre of laughing teenagers by their bonfire. "Drinking alone, huh?"

She turned and eyed him speculatively. "Not if you join me."

He took a seat on a large piece of wood angled perpendicular to hers. "Cheers." After a short silence in which the level of beer in both their plastic cups dropped considerably he asked, "Why aren't you over there with everybody else?"

Elle shrugged. "'Cause it freaking depresses me, that's why. I never had any birthday parties like this since I turned six."

"Didn't you tell me you burned your grandmother's house down when you were six?"

"Not on purpose! Mommy wanted to put me to bed and I didn't wanna go, and we started fighting..." She sniffled unexpectedly. "It was just one little spark, but the carpet caught fire and after that, Daddy said I couldn't play with _normal _kids anymore. So I spent all my time at the Company, training to be an agent and never had any parties or got to do anything fun. Nope, nothing fun to do at a freakin' Primatech facility."

She paused for another swig of beer, and in the momentary silence Peter realized that she had begun rambling, her speech slurring slightly toward the end.

"Those girls over there-" Elle pointed vaguely in the direction of Jessica and her guests "-are so freakin' clueless. Y'know, they have absolutely _no idea _what really goes on out there - all the dangerous people out there like you and me and Knox and Flint and your dad and Sylar and...a bunch of other really bad guys. Nope, they just spend all their time in malls and on beaches, thinking about boys and clothes and where to get their nails done next, and you know what would happen if they ever found out? Like if Claire were to fall into that fire and they saw her heal, know what'd happen? They'd piss all over themselves!" She fell into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, choking out, "What...you...think?" between giggles.

"I think you're drunk."

Elle stopped laughing and glared at Peter. "You think I'm drunk? Whatcha gonna do about it?"

She stuck out her tongue and raised her cup for another drink, but Peter grabbed her hand before it was halfway to her mouth and twisted the cup out of her grasp. "Really, you've had enough for tonight."

"Hey! Can't just...grab it outta my hand...so rude..." She lunged forward in an attempt to reclaim her confiscated beverage, lost her balance, and would have knocked heads with Peter had he not dropped her cup and seized her waist to keep her from completely collapsing on top of him.

"Get a grip, Elle! I'm gonna throw these in the trash, and then I'm going to take you back to the car, and you are going to stay there while I round up Bella and Claire. This party's about to get out of hand anyway."

"You're so bossy - 's kinda a pain in the ass."

Peter ignored Elle's complaint and tried to haul her up off the log, not knowing that intoxication exacerbated her somewhat belligerent tendencies. "Come _on_, Elle."

"Don't wanna." She released a sharp electrical shock through her arm, which he dropped with a yelp.

"Ouch! Are you crazy? What if someone saw that?" A quick scan of their surroundings revealed no one nearby except for Lauren Mallory. Well, Peter supposed he would just have to cross his fingers and hope she hadn't seen that soft blue flash. He picked up the empty cups in one hand, got a firm grip on Elle with the other (after negating her power, just in case), and towed her up the beach. _Where the hell is Bella? _She would be much better at managing Elle than him. When they came within hailing distance of Lauren, he asked if she had seen the errant Swan.

Her reply was an unpleasantly shrill, nasal laugh. "Remembered you have a girlfriend, huh? Took long enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter snapped, exasperated almost to the point of outright anger by her aggravating laugh and generally snarky attitude.

Lauren gestured to Elle. "You seemed to be having a pretty good time with her a couple minutes ago."

Peter's irritation deepened. "I talked with her awhile, yeah. So what?"

"Just talking?" One of Lauren's silver-blonde brows arched in an expression of calculated skepticism. "Too bad _Bella _didn't see it that way." _Just talking, right. _Totally _looked like kissing - he doesn't really seem like the cheater type though. Oh well, the look on Bella's face was still priceless!_ "She was really upset when she saw you two...doing _whatever_ you were doing. Gosh, I hope she's all right," Lauren said in a tone of transparently fake concern.

"Like you give a crap about anyone who isn't you." Claire had arrived in time to catch Lauren's last sentence, and although she didn't know who was being discussed, she'd heard that falsely sweet voice too often for it not to annoy her. She glanced at Elle, who was being more or less supported by Peter's hold on her and seemed unsteady on her feet. "What's up with her?"

"Hit the bottle too hard. Take her to the car, will you? In fact, go ahead and get her out of here." Peter wasn't sure how well his block on Elle's power would hold once they were no longer in close proximity. Not developing his own blocking ability past the basics so Bella could be better than him at something might have been good for her self-esteem, but was now proving to be an inconvenience.

"You and Bella will...?" Claire began, wondering how to ask Peter if he planned on teleporting with Lauren in earshot.

"Take the short way home," Peter finished in an undertone. He handed Elle off to Claire, then turned back to Lauren. "Now, where did Bella go?"

Lauren gulped nervously. A subtle menacing note had crept into Peter's voice, and she was visited by the notion that the hands now clenched on her shoulders could move up and easily crush her neck. What a stupid thing to think. Wasn't it? With a slight alcohol-induced buzz clouding her mind and those dark eyes boring into her, she couldn't be as sure as she'd like. "Bella... Sh-she ran that w-way," Lauren stammered, pointing.

Peter let her go and walked quickly away. He was halfway between the bonfire and the cliffs when a scream that seemed to come from somewhere above froze him. There was no reason to think it was Bella screaming, but intuition told him it was - and if she was screaming, it most likely meant she'd fallen. _Dammit Bella, why can't you be more careful? _He took off from the beach, flew over the water, and caught her - or rather crashed into her - in midair.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging with every bit of force her body could produce. "Peter...you came for me?"

###

Back in his room - which became their room when she stayed overnight - he paced, torn between yelling at her for needlessly putting herself in danger and trying to tell her nothing had happened with him and Elle, if he could just find the right way to open such a touchy subject. _Why the hell is that so hard? I haven't done anything wrong!_ Maybe she would bring it up herself; weren't girls supposed to scream and cry when they suspected they'd been cheated on?

Of course, Bella never did what girls were supposed to do - she simply watched him from where she sat on the bed, curled into a ball with her knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. "Stop pacing," she said at last, "before you wear a hole in the floor. If something's wrong, you can talk to me...if you want to."

"If something's wrong?" Peter repeated. "_If_? You just took the swan dive off a cliff, and there're sharp rocks under the water there - you could've been killed if you'd fallen in! And, according to Lauren Mallory, you think I kissed Elle tonight and-and you're acting like you don't care," he finished more quietly.

Bella's voice quavered with anger when she answered. "_Of course I care. _But what do you want me to do? If you want Elle instead of me, there's nothing I _can_ do about it - I can't compete with her!"

"You don't have to. Bella, I don't want Elle; nothing happened between us, regardless of what Lauren told you."

"Lauren didn't tell me anything, just pointed me to where you and Elle were hanging out, and I saw you hold her hand, and then she leaned over so that her face was less than an inch from yours! Explain to me how that's nothing, please."

"Oh, _that_? I took her drink away and she fell over trying to take it back, that's it."

"Well, I guess I _was _too far away to see clearly," Bella allowed, although her narrowed eyes said she wasn't going to let it go just yet. "But how do you expect me to believe you don't want Elle when I know you kissed her once before? When the Company had you locked up." She watched carefully for his reaction to those last seven words, and he didn't disappoint her.

"What-? How-?"

"-Do I know about that? Saw it during Elle's and my spirit walk, along with a bunch of other stuff from her past." She omitted the part where she had wanted to see Elle's past interaction with Peter. "Did you love her?"

"No," he said emphatically.

Bella surprised him by punching his shoulder painfully hard and furiously demanding, "What did you kiss her for, then?"

"Ow! I don't know why! There was no other girl in my life then so I thought it wouldn't hurt anything. I was wrong - obviously." He rubbed his shoulder, which still felt tender although the pain was rapidly fading. "I made a mistake, but what do you want me to do, go back in time and tell my past self to never kiss Elle Bishop under any circumstances?"

An unwilling smile tugged at the corners of Bella's mouth. "There's no need to take such drastic measures; my hurt feelings aren't important-"

"They are to me."

She blushed and turned her gaze to her fingers, playing agitatedly over the bedcovers. "Even when I'm getting upset for no good reason? Or does Elle living here constitute a reason?" She shook her head as if to clear it. "No matter, you shouldn't have to account for things you did before we'd even met. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"I'm sorry I ever gave you a reason to."

Bella _hmm_ed and shifted onto Peter's lap, tucking her head under his chin; his nose filled with the salty scent of seawater from her hair, reminding him of something else they needed to discuss. "Hey, you never did tell me what happened on that cliff. I know you were upset, but you still need to be more careful..."

His voice trailed off as Bella lifted her head and stared up at him, wide-eyed. "I can't believe I forgot! I didn't fall on my own - there was a vampire on the cliff - the Quileute pack was chasing her and she ran right by me, made me lose my balance."

Peter frowned. "I didn't see any vampires or werewolves-"

"Well, they were there," Bella insisted. "You can call Sam tomorrow if you don't believe me."

_Next morning_

Calling Sam turned out to be unnecessary; dawn had barely begun to lighten the eastern horizon when Peter woke up with the strangest feeling that someone had called out to him. He glanced around the bedroom, finding it empty apart from himself and Bella, who was still dead to the world. Perhaps she'd said his name in her sleep?

_Peter! _The call came again inside his mind, sounding a lot like Sam's voice. Peter got up, groped for his shoes in the dark and pulled them on, not bothering to hurry. Whatever Sam wanted couldn't be _that _urgent; besides, telepathically shouting someone awake at this hour was damned inconsiderate.

_Yo, Super-Freak, get out here! _yelled a different mental 'voice'. Peter couldn't immediately place it, but he suspected it belonged to Jacob Black, second-in-command of the local werewolf pack and the only person who addressed Peter as 'Super-Freak' on a regular basis. This suspicion was confirmed when he went outside to find Jacob and Sam in the front yard, clad only in shorts despite the cool morning. "Took your sweet time coming out," Jacob observed, smirking. "We didn't wake you up, did we?"

"Since I don't make a habit of getting up at five, yeah you did." _And I'll bet you enjoyed doing it too, _Peter added silently. "Care to tell me _why_ you woke me up this early? Say...it wouldn't have anything to do with a vampire that was here last night, would it?"

Both werewolves were startled. _How does he know? _they wondered, their thoughts perfectly synchronized even in their human forms.

"So Bella was right," Peter murmured.

"What was Bella right about?" Jacob queried.

"About there being a vamp here, not that I thought she could've been mistaken - she'd probably recognize one better than I would - but was it really too much to hope that she was just embarrassed about falling and blamed it on a fictional vampire?"

Someone behind them gasped, and they turned just in time to see the end of a long blonde mane whip around the corner of the house. Jacob sniffed the air, catching the blonde's scent. "That's not Claire."

"After her!" Sam commanded. The two wolves bolted before Peter could stop them, so he ran after them instead - assuming he was right and it was Elle they were chasing, someone was likely to get hurt. Peter's money was on the wolves.

Elle made it to the backyard thanks to a half-second's head start and the initial distance between her and her pursuers, but they soon overtook her. Sam ran in front of her, cutting her off; she screeched to a halt, desperately searching for some other escape route, and Jacob tackled her, sending her down on her knees and pinning her arms behind her back.

"Get away from her," Peter shouted, "before-"

Electricity surged from Elle into Jacob, knocking him flat and singeing his skin where it touched hers.

"-That happens," Peter finished with a sigh. "Great." Elle had heard him mention vampires, a couple of werewolves had chased her down for hearing what she shouldn't have, she'd electrocuted one of them - the shit had really hit the fan now.

Jacob was already getting up with Sam's help, so Peter went to Elle, who was still kneeling on the ground panting, and offered her a hand up. She threw herself away from him, gathering another charge in her hand. "Get the hell away from me!"

"Elle..."

"I heard you talking about _vampires_!" she screamed, loudly enough to wake the dead. "You're crazy!"

The backdoor slid open, spilling Claire and Bella, still in their sleepwear, onto the porch. "What in the world...?" Claire rubbed her eyes as if to reassure herself that she wasn't still asleep and dreaming.

Elle clambered up the single porch step and sidled around Bella so that she was between Elle and Peter. "I hate to break this to you, but your boyfriend's lost his grip in a big way."

"Excuse me?" Bella hardly knew whether to be offended by this statement or just plain bewildered.

"I got up to get some Tylenol because I felt like some deranged midget was using a jackhammer on my brain, and I saw Peter outside with those guys." She gestured to Sam and Jacob.

"And you just decided you'd eavesdrop? Doesn't other people's privacy mean anything to you?" Claire asked.

"Hey, it's a good thing I did!" Elle said defensively. "He was talking to them about vampires! It's obvious he's got a few screws loose."

"Says who?"

"Oh, I don't know, Claire. Maybe the part where vampires _don't exist_ has something to do with it?"

Bella shuffled her feet. "Um, actually, Elle..." Her hands fluttered nervously, as if she could pull the words she needed out of thin air.

Luckily, Jacob came to her rescue. "Vampires are real," he stated baldly, "and they're not the only things out there that you probably don't believe in."

Elle decided she was the only sane person present. "I guess next you're gonna tell me _you're _a vampire."

Jacob looked revolted. "Hell no! Just watch." He began removing his shorts, much to Elle's amusement.

"And what is mooning me supposed to prove, exactly?"

"You'll see." Jacob took a running leap, went up as a human, and came down a wolf; he landed gracefully on his paws and looked at the girls on the porch with eyes far too intelligent to belong to a real animal.

Elle instinctively shot twin lightning bolts from both hands, prompting Bella to shield Jacob. Electricity and force field collided and the first spread through the latter, creating what had to be one of the most surreal sights ever seen in Forks, or anywhere else for that matter. Claire looked from the roughly rectangular force field, now sharply defined by the lightning coursing throughout it, to the huge russet-furred wolf, and thought how fortunate it was that her house was relatively isolated.

###

"Gonna eat that?" Jacob pointed his fork at Elle's scrambled eggs, untouched due to hangover-induced sickness or werewolf-induced shock, or some combination of the two.

For once, she had nothing wittier to say than, "Help yourself." She'd already been told that no one would blame her if she wanted to leave Forks now that she knew what kind of creatures populated the area; she was currently mulling it over.

"Now, about this bloodsucker," Sam began, only to be cut off by Bella.

"What about her? Lots of vamps are nomads; this one was probably just passing through, and I doubt she'll be back."

"I'm not so sure. We found her sniffing around the old Cullen place." Sam paused to see the effect of this information on his listeners.

"The place where you burned that leech with the dreads, specifically," Jacob chipped in through a mouthful of egg and toast.

"Was it Victoria?"

"Peter-"

"Bella, I promised you I wouldn't track her down and I've kept that promise, but if she's come back I _will _kill her."

"Peter, it wasn't her! This one was a light blonde, not a redhead."

"Moving on from the leech's hair," Jacob interjected loudly, "we need to decide what we're gonna do about her."

"She's gone," Claire pointed out. "You might not need to do anything."

"She's gone now, but she seemed upset when she found where the other leech had died. My guess is she'll be back." Sam turned to Peter. "We plan to run extra patrols for the next few days; will you join us?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't see why not, if it's okay with Bella." He looked her way, checking her reaction to Sam's proposal.

She likewise shrugged. "Sure, we can join their patrol. Running with wolves - sounds like fun."

Jacob suddenly choked. Eyes watering, he sputtered, "Wh-what? Bella, don't you remember what happened last time you got involved with fighting bloodsuckers? You died! No freaking way you're coming!"

"If Peter goes, I go." She set her jaw and fixed Jacob with a defiant glare.

"Me too," Claire said quickly, determined not to be left sitting at home.

"You're not coming either," Jacob snapped.

"Try and stop me."

"Enough!" Sam barked. "Neither of you can come, because you can't run fast enough. Someone would have to carry you." He glanced at Peter, leaving no doubt who that 'someone' would be.

Bella told him that it wouldn't be a problem; after all, Peter had once flown there from New York - a much longer trip than any patrol the pack could be planning - while carrying her.

"But there's no reason he should have to do that," Sam argued, "when he could just teleport in to get you if we needed you."

Sam would have said more, but just then Peter spoke up, and immediately received Bella's undivided attention. "He has a point, Bella. I don't mind carrying you - I'd actually like to have you there - but if no vamp shows it'll get pretty boring. No reason for both of us to spend all day running our asses off in those woods. It's summer; you're supposed to be having fun."

"Without you? Yeah, right."

Claire cleared her throat loudly. "What am I, wet toilet paper? You can have fun with me."

"I _do_, Claire, but-"

"And I'll come get you the second it looks like there might be trouble, okay?"

Bella sighed, recognizing defeat, then gave Peter her most severe stare. "First sign of the slightest _possibility _of trouble, you come get me - I don't care if it's just a snapping twig. Understood?"

Peter rolled his eyes while Jacob snickered. "Fine, but you don't need to be so protective. I'm not _completely_ helpless."

**My first priority in my writing is now to complete and post the final chapter of Reprise, after which I'll most likely begin a new story - my policy is not to have more than two ongoing projects at once. Currently I'm torn between a couple of new ideas, all in different fandoms: Twilight/Heroes (another one), Merlin (temporarily my new obsession while Heroes is off), or Losing Christina (it's unlikely that I'll go with this one, as it's still underdeveloped). Let me know your preferences! **


	17. Killing Time

**It's come to my attention that FF has recently removed all triple-asterisk scene breaks, which ticks me off. Just letting you know I don't intend to go back and replace all my missing breaks unless this is just really impossible to read without them. **

**The bowling alley scene is for DarkMo0nStars, who now has to love me forever per a pinky promise!**

Chapter 17: Killing Time

_BPOV_

_I should've just stayed in bed. _I would have if I'd known Claire's brilliant plan for taking my mind off things was going to involve bowling. I hated putting on shoes that had been worn by countless other people, I could barely lift the ball, and I had just thrown my sixth gutter ball in a row.

"Lighten up, Bella. The point is to have fun, not to win."

"Having fun is easier when you get strikes _every time_."

"I think I got a spare on my last turn, actually."

"That makes me feel so much better," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Even Elle's better at this, and she hadn't even seen a bowling ball before today!"

The other blonde walked up just in time to hear me. "Hey, I can't help that you suck, Bella." She sounded slightly hurt.

I flushed, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Elle. I shouldn't take my crappy mood out on you."

She huffed. "Well, sorry Claire and I are such poor substitutes for Peter."

"No, no, that's not it! Being here without him wouldn't be bad if he was just at work or doing his own thing. This, though... It feels like he wants me kept busy while he's with the pack - like he wants me out of the way - and I don't need that! I'm not some useless weakling who needs babysitting while the tough guys go take care of the scary monsters!" I scuffed the toe of my grubby rented shoe on the too-shiny floor, leaving a black mark.

Claire draped her arm around my shoulders. "Nobody's babysitting you - I only thought you should get out and do something instead of sitting at home stewing over vampires and werewolves. I was right by the way, but it kind of doesn't work if you're just gonna stew over it here."

"Okay, okay, I see your point. I'll do better." I forced a smile. "Is it my turn again?" Elle handed me my ball; I took it and marched up to the throwing line, determined to be less of a wet blanket. My fingers slipped as I prepared to toss the ball, which landed with an earsplitting _CRACK! _on my foot. "Ow, dammit!" I shrieked, hopping on my other foot while clutching my throbbing toes with both hands.

My companions helped me hobble over to our seats. "Are you okay?!"

"What a stupid question," Claire snapped. "Elle, those balls weigh a freaking ton!"

"So what'd she drop it on her foot for?"

"It wasn't done on purpose," I bit out, fighting the urge to stomp on Elle's toes and see how she liked it. "Damn, I think I broke my foot!"

Claire lowered me into a plastic chair while Elle knelt and began removing my shoe, which was difficult as my foot had already started swelling. "Try to wiggle your toes," she instructed. I tried to obey, but I couldn't tell whether they moved or not. "Now rotate your foot."

"My ankle is fine," I protested, flexing my foot back and forth. "Do you feel any broken bones?" Elle shook her head. "I should be able to walk on my own then, so long as I keep all the weight on my heel." I put my own shoe back on my non-swollen foot; Claire and Elle likewise discarded their bowling shoes, which Elle gathered up and returned to the rental counter. Claire helped me up, then picked up the sneaker I couldn't wear. I smiled gratefully at her, hoping pain didn't twist the expression too severely for her to recognize it as a smile. She let me lean on her to take some of the weight off; between that and the fact that it was only my toes that were hurt, walking was almost bearable.

As we passed the concession line, I heard a voice belonging to the very last person I wanted to meet while I was limping along in excruciating pain. "Drop a bowling ball on your foot, Bella?" I stopped, tensing for an unpleasant altercation. Lauren sauntered up, peered at my injured foot, and laughed. "Oh. My. Gosh. You actually _did _drop a ball on your foot, didn't you? You're such a walking disaster, you belong in one of those clear ball thingies they use for exercising hamsters."

"You little-!"

"Claire, don't!" I caught her as she moved toward Lauren. "Just ignore her."

Lauren took half a step backward, her fishy, pale gray eyes narrowing maliciously. "It's too bad Peter's not here to take care of you. Off with Elle again, is he?"

Vivid red splashes burst on the edges of my vision. Today had been lousy from the moment Peter left; I was tense, worried, frustrated, and now in serious pain, and Lauren's taunt was the final straw. My hand automatically curled itself into a fist, then I lurched forward and slammed it right into the center of Lauren's smug, smirking face. Peter had once told me that I should always hit up under the nose, but for once I disregarded his advice. I didn't want to smash Lauren's nasal cartilage into her brain after all, just show her that I'd had enough of her snide comments and insults. I'd taken a lot of crap from her since my arrival in Forks, but I was no longer the defenseless wimp I'd been then - I certainly wasn't afraid of a petty snob like her anymore.

"Owww! You broke my nose! I can't believe you just hit my nose!"

"Bella didn't break your nose, trust me."

Lauren looked up from rubbing her nose - smearing blood and snot all over her face in the process - to gape at us. "How would _you_ know? She hit me freaking hard!"

"I have tons of experience with broken body parts," Claire coolly replied.

"_Experience?!_ Is bodily harm like some twisted hobby for you? You crazy freaks!"

"You have no idea." I took a step closer, shutting Lauren up immediately. "I honestly didn't break anything this time but, Lauren...mess with me again and I _will_." Claire and I walked away then, leaving Lauren staring open-mouthed at our backs.

"Bella, that was the single coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!" Claire cheered once we were outside. "You totally showed her - you were _amazing_!"

I didn't feel amazing. Mostly I just felt hurt, tired, and cranky, though Claire's praise helped my mood immensely. "It really wasn't anything."

"Yes it was! Bella, you kicked ass! I can't believe you didn't get busted-"

"Thanks to me." Elle came up behind us, grinning broadly. "I might've made sure the guy at the shoe rental counter didn't notice what you were doing."

"How'd you pull that off with Lauren screaming bloody murder?"

Elle gave me her most innocent look. "The guy was a little distracted when smoke started coming out of his cash register..."

"Elle!"

"Relax _Mom_, he didn't see me zap it."

###

After the bowling debacle, I stayed in the next day and watched baseball with Charlie and Billy, who had been dropped off by Jacob before he left for patrol, taking Peter with him. More accurately, Charlie and Billy watched baseball while I sat staring blankly at the screen, chewing my lip and wondering where Peter and the pack were right now. I only tuned in when I heard Charlie heave himself up from the couch. "Is it halftime already?"

Both men looked at me askance. "Halftime's in football, Bells. It's still the first inning, but someone just rang the doorbell." Our visitor, who was obviously not a patient person, laid on the bell again almost before Charlie finished speaking. "All right, all right, I'm coming," he grumbled. He lumbered to the door, pulled it open, exchanged a few words with the person outside, then called out, "Bella, your boyfriend's here."

I scrambled up, got one foot twisted around the other, collapsed in a heap on the floor, picked myself up again, and flew to the door. "Peter?!"

"Hey, Bella."

I launched myself at him. Charlie shut the door, leaving us alone on the front porch. A moment later I became aware that Peter was hugging me so tightly my ribs were in danger of cracking. "Uh, Peter...need oxygen, please. Now."

He loosened his grip but didn't completely let go. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I'm just happy to see you."

Something was wrong, I could tell. It hadn't actually been that long since we'd last seen each other - only three hours tops - even if it felt longer to me. Secondly, he seemed more tense and anxious than happy. "Me too," I said slowly, "but what're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with the pack?"

"Never mind them. Bella, I need you to do something for me. Please."

"Peter, you know I would do anything for you. What is it?"

"I need you to stay here today."

I glanced around, bemused. "You want me to stand on my porch all day?"

Peter sighed in exasperation, his fingers digging into my shoulders. "No, not on the _porch_! In your _house_! You have to stay inside for the rest of the day."

Now I was getting concerned. Not only was Peter acting very oddly, he'd also forgotten what I'd told him just this morning. "Staying home _was_ my plan, you know," I carefully reminded him, "since the bowling thing yesterday didn't work out-"

He cut me off sharply. "You don't understand. I'm telling you, you have to stay in no matter what. Even if someone tries to get you to leave - even if it's me."

"If it's _you_? But why would you-?"

"Never mind. I don't have time to explain - I have to-" He cut himself off as abruptly as he had interrupted me. "Just for once, do what I tell you, okay?"

"Okay." I hardly ever refused him anything anyway; I certainly wouldn't when he was this upset. "Anything else you need?"

"Just one more thing. Kiss me?"

"You're _asking_?" I scoffed, stretching up on my toes to reach his mouth. His hands slipped to my waist, lifting me off my feet and holding me tighter than a steel vise as his lips crushed mine. His tongue flicked over my lower lip, telling me he wanted to deepen our kiss; I let him part my lips as he had so many times before, but this time was different. He was more forceful, almost like he desperately needed this. Forget passionate, this was nearly violent. It frightened me for some reason I couldn't pinpoint - not because I was afraid of him hurting me, I knew he would never do that even by accident - and I wriggled in his too-hard embrace. Of course he was much too strong for me to push him away without using my shield; there was nothing to do except submit to this fierce kiss that made my pulse race as much from desire as from alarm...

He suddenly pulled away, leaving me so dazed that I would have fallen if not for him holding me up. "What...was...that?" I panted, hanging on to him with one hand and brushing the other over my lips, amazed not to find them burning.

"I shouldn't have done that. I should really go now."

"Don't. You can't kiss me like that and then just teleport away like nothing happened."

"Sorry. Go back inside now."

"Peter-"

"Gotta run. Whatever happens, _don't leave the house_." He was gone before I could protest further or demand an explanation.

_Stinking supernatural creatures! He should be staying with _me_, not running off to hunt them._ Not for the first time, I thought that his priorities - save the world first, do what he wanted second - could use a little rearranging. It was just a fleeting idea, nothing more. Peter's irritating heroic tendencies were what made him the man I loved.

I went inside with my hand over my mouth and headed straight to the bathroom. As expected, my lips were puffy from Peter having kissed me so hard; something had to be done before Charlie saw me. I crept down to the kitchen, filled a glass with ice cubes, and held one to my mouth.

"Bells? That you?"

"Yeah, Dad," I called, feeling guilty. "I'm just getting myself some iced tea."

"Bring me one too, will you?"

I dutifully delivered glasses of tea to Charlie and Billy, then sat sipping my own drink until the doorbell rang a second time. This time Charlie didn't budge except to cast a glare toward the door. "If that's Peter back again, he isn't here to see me."

Taking the hint, I jumped up and knocked over my glass in the process. "Ah, crap!" I changed course, intending to fetch some paper towels to soak up my spilled tea, but the doorbell rang again. Whoever was outside rudely held their finger on the bell so that it chimed repeatedly.

Charlie got up with a grunt of annoyance. "I'll clean this up, Bella; you see who's here and what the hell they want."

I marched over and ripped the door open, intending to tell off the person on the other side even if it was Peter, only to have a large, freakishly hot hand that absolutely did _not_ belong to Peter close on my wrist and drag me outside. "About damn time. Can't you move any faster?"

"Jacob! What-?"

"You gotta come with me," he said urgently.

"I can't - Peter wants me to stay home today. He said not to leave no matter what happens."

Jacob looked at me strangely. "He told you that this morning?"

"No, just a few minutes ago... Why are you looking at me like that?!"

"Super-Fr- _Peter_, I mean - is with the rest of the pack. I know he moves fast, but unless he can actually be in two places at once, he couldn't have told you anything a few minutes ago."

"Who'd I talk to, then?" He may have been acting...well, not exactly like himself, but he was definitely still Peter. I was confident in my ability to recognize my own boyfriend, thank you very much.

"Beats me. Moving past the part where Super-Freak just got even freakier, Sam sent me to tell you we picked up the bloodsucker's trail - less than an hour old. I'm supposed to bring you, and Seth's gone to get your electric pal-"

I quit listening there. If they were bringing in Elle also, it could only mean that they were closing in on the vampire and a fight was imminent. Peter would be in the thick of it. No matter how he'd managed to be here while Jacob insisted he hadn't left the pack, no matter how earnestly he'd asked - practically begged - me not to leave Charlie's house (which could only be because he didn't want me involved in this fight), it all became meaningless once I realized what was going on. There was no way in hell I was staying here with Peter in the middle of a vampire-on-werewolf throwdown. "Take me to them."

**Wish me luck on my final exams! The good news is that it'll all be over after Monday, and then...VACATION! Unlike Bella's, my vacation will not involve vampires or (hopefully) mortal peril. **


	18. Venom & Tears

**Well, I really don't know whether I should warn you not to read this chapter or not. On the one hand, you'll finally find out what was in the picture Usutu showed Bella; on the other, I doubt you'll like the way this ends. Ah, go ahead and read it, just don't say I didn't warn you. **

**The chapter title is from a Throwdown song of the same name which I found eerily appropriate for this chap. **

Chapter 18: Venom & Tears

_Quileute wolf pack & Peter_

_Earlier_

The telepathic call came suddenly, interrupting Peter's train of thought. One minute he was wishing he'd taken Bella up on her offer to accompany him on patrol - having to carry her would have been a small price to pay for having someone other than the strictly-business werewolves to converse with - the next he was hearing the overexcited 'voice' of a young wolf named Collin as if the pup were yipping right in his ear. _Guys, c'mere, I found the leech's trail! _

An almost tangible thrill ran through the pack, making their ears prick forward and the fur along their spines bristle. Peter couldn't help being slightly affected as well, although killing vampires was hardly his _raison d'être_ like it was the pack's. _Take me there, _Sam ordered.

"Bella made me promise to get her when we found something," Peter reminded the alpha wolf. _And I don't take your orders. _

Jacob snorted; it was unmistakably a wolf's equivalent to laughing. _Right, I forgot she has to be on the scene to protect you from snapping twigs. _

With a flick of Peter's wrist, Jacob found himself pinned to the ground, unable to move an inch.

Sam growled both physically and telepathically. _Enough! We have no time for this! Peter, let him up. Jacob, _you _can fetch Bella; she can be useful in a fight. _

"I bet seeing him'll make Bella's week," Peter muttered.

_Quiet! _A gigantic black paw cuffed Peter on the shoulder - an alpha's reprimand to the smart-alecky honorary pack member. Using the pack's mental link, Sam located another patrol group made up of Paul, Embry, and Seth that was closer to Peter, Claire, and Elle's house. _Seth, go let the girls know what's happening and bring Elle if she'll come. _

_Got it, boss. _Seth bounded off in one direction, Jacob in another.

Through Sam, Peter tapped the link, located Collin, and teleported to him. The young wolf was practically bouncing on his paws. _Look what Jared and I found, guys! _He pointed with his nose at a footprint. _You can totally tell from the stink that it's a bloodsucker, and from the print's direction we think they're headed west-_

_Toward La Push, _Jared finished, anxiously switching his tail back and forth.

_Then there's no time to wait for Jacob and Seth. Let's go - everyone else join us. _

A chorus of affirmative answers traveled down the link from the two other patrol parties. Sam ordered the youngest pack members, Collin and Brady, to go back and guard La Push despite their protests that they could fight as well as the older members. _Once Jacob and Seth return with Bella and Elle we'll have plenty of fighters without you. It's more important for you to protect our tribe - now go! _They bolted with just one last whine apiece, while Sam led the pack in a path parallel to the coastline.

The first vampire struck just outside the woods, leaping out from behind a tree and grabbing Sam and Jared. There was a crackle of electricity where her hands touched them, and then the pack's two most experienced fighters were flat on the ground, unconscious. Paul sprang forward, snarling, and was immediately engaged by a Hispanic female vampire. More vamps appeared; Peter counted six altogether. One thing was certain: with four members of the pack gone, they didn't have much of a numerical advantage.

In fact they only outnumbered the vampires by one, and Peter was the one. His powers gave him an edge but, as Jacob had pointed out to Bella, even he couldn't be everywhere at once. Sam regained consciousness just in time to 'shout' a telepathic warning - _Behind you!_ - and Peter spun around to see a strawberry blonde female eyeing him with mild curiosity, wondering why he hadn't transformed.

She moved like a snake, intercepting Peter's punch and getting a whiff of the veins on the underside of his wrist in the process. "You're _human_?" Her voice rose in astonishment even as she tossed Peter aside, thinking a human posed no threat and wasn't worth the time to properly incapacitate.

Peter went with the momentum and was back on his feet in less than half a second. "Someday you vampires' tendency to underestimate humans is really gonna get you in trouble - like today." He sent a jet of blue flame at her, scorching her and one of her coven-mates who tried too late to pull her out of the way.

The other vamp - a black-haired male with a faint olive tint to his pallid skin - turned wide butterscotch eyes Peter's way. "What _are _you?"

"Human," Peter answered coolly, raising a hand to telekinetically decapitate them both before they could fully recover from their burns. He never got the chance.

Unlike the other vampires he'd fought, the Denali coven was well-practiced at resisting the smell of human blood; it also helped their concentration that Peter wasn't bleeding, as he had been when Laurent slashed his throat. Neither were they a near-mindless rabble of newborns with minimal training. Each of these vampires had lived over a century at least, in some cases more, and they were all experienced fighters even though they'd never faced an adversary quite like Peter Petrelli. Still, they knew a thing or two about humans - that their heads were pretty sensitive, for instance. Which was where Kate's mate Garrett got the bright idea of picking up a large rock and smashing it against the back of Peter's skull.

Kate herself - _Elle's evil vampire twin, _Peter thought dazedly - stepped forward to deliver the shock that would finish him off...and nothing happened. Thanks to Jacob, Bella had arrived just in time to negate Kate's power.

"More humans?" Carmen cried in amazement as Elle and Seth joined Bella and Jacob. _"__¿Qué pasa?__"_

Her mate, Eleazar, sensed that these were no ordinary humans and moved protectively in front of her as Elle began gathering a charge. When she released it, Peter, whose head had healed from the knock it had taken, telekinetically channeled Elle's lightning so it hit all six vampires at once. She could only keep it up for a moment, but that moment was long enough and painful enough to make the vamps think twice about attacking again.

Bella intervened before fighting could recommence. "What are you here for? I've seen eyes like yours before; I can tell you don't feed on humans, and you haven't tried to attack anybody except the pack. If you're not here to feed, what do you want?"

Tanya, being the leader of her coven, was the one who answered. "My sister Irina's mate was killed by those mongrels. If you know so much about our kind, you should know what we do to those who kill our partners."

"If you want revenge for Laurent, you can leave the wolves alone," Peter told her. "They had nothing to do with it."

Realizing what he was about to do, Bella yelled, "Peter, no!"

He ignored her. "Laurent wasn't sticking to your diet. He attacked Bella, so I killed him."

"_You_ did?" Tanya hissed. "I don't believe this."

"I do," Irina said. "I recognize her scent-" she threw a sharp glance at Bella, then quickly refocused on Peter "-from the Cullens' house. She was there at the same time as Laurent, I've seen what you can do, and if you and she are together...then you really _did_ kill him!" She snarled the last words even as she crouched and sprang, hands curled into claws and teeth bared.

"NO!" Everything happened very fast after that, so fast that no one had even begun to process it until too late. One second Irina was striking at Peter; the next she collided with Bella's force field, which reversed her momentum and sent her crashing into Bella instead. Vampire and human hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and hair with Bella pinned underneath Irina.

The instant the force field dissipated, Peter sprinted over, seized Irina by the back of her neck and threw her aside, then dropped to one knee beside Bella, who was clutching her bleeding and obviously dislocated right shoulder. "Let me see it, baby." He tugged her hand away in spite of her resistance, swearing when he saw her wound. "Damn bloodsucking bitch took a real chunk outta you..."

"It hurts," Bella whimpered. Peter shushed her and tried to lay her back down so he could remove his jacket - it would have to do for a makeshift bandage until he could get her to Claire - but she clutched his sleeve, refusing to let him let her go. Her breathing sped toward hyperventilation, her pupils dilating. "It...burns,...Peter..."

"I know, just let me-"

Suddenly she screamed, "My shoulder's on fire!" and twisted violently, jarring her injured arm and apparently not noticing. "Stop the burning!"

Peter partially disintegrated her shirt, baring the area in question, and saw that the source of the bleeding wasn't Bella's shoulder having been crushed like he'd thought - it was a ring of teeth marks imprinted deep in her skin.

###

_I didn't mean to bite her. _Actually, Irina hadn't meant to hurt Bella at all, but after bouncing off the metaphysical barrier between her and her real target, she could no more control where she ended up landing than she could stop her jaws clamping on the girl's shoulder, her teeth piercing right down to and splintering the bone and then shredding through the too-soft flesh and muscle when she was torn away. Once that hot plasma touched her tongue, all her good intentions were wiped away, replaced by mindless bloodlust, and she leapt at Bella again - only to crash into another force field, this one electrified strongly enough to singe her stony skin.

"Hey!" Tanya took a menacing step toward the wolves, met the same invisible wall, and collapsed with a shriek.

Several wolves stole uneasy glances at Elle - that blonde had to be pretty lethal if she could hurt a vampire - but she seemed just as freaked as them. Feeling all the large black eyes on her, Elle squeaked, "Don't look at _me_! I'm not doing it!"

Jared's mental 'voice' sounded less calm than usual when he asked the obvious question: _If she isn't doing this, who is? _

"I am." The speaker was a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Peter, who in fact looked _exactly_ like him; with the exception of a scar across the newcomer's face, there was literally no difference between them.

_Who the hell are you? _

"I'm Peter Petrelli." The man spoke each word slowly and distinctly, making it clear that he thought Jacob rather dense for having asked such a question. "Plus a few years."

This statement did nothing to reassure the wolves, who continued looking at him like he'd just claimed to be a Martian. Elle sighed. "He's from the future, all right? He can teleport - you know, bend space _and time_? Duh!"

Future Peter's mouth twitched in an attempt at a smile, though he couldn't quite pull it off - there'd been so little to smile about where he'd come from that his facial muscles had gotten rusty. There had been Elle, though; she'd remained a good friend after everyone else in their lives was dead or worse. _If I manage to rewrite history today, I really hope I don't end up killing her the next time around. _

"But I've heard how time travelers can wreak havoc by changing the past, and unless you've gone totally Hyde in a few years you're not the type to risk punching holes in the space-time continuum without a damn good reason. What is it?"

Future Peter got perhaps a single syllable out before Bella started screaming. Everyone present (apart from Elle) realized that the burning sensation she felt was caused by vampire venom; the wolves stiffened and a few released low, rumbling growls, and Future Peter whispered, "Oh _fuck_," before shoving his other self out of the way and taking his place beside Bella.

Remembering what happened last time his future self showed up, Peter wasn't thrilled to see him again. "You? You get the hell away from her!"

"I came back to save her," Future Peter snapped. "I already tried telling her to stay home today but I had a feeling she wouldn't listen to me, she never listens..." He let his words trail off as Sam, Jared, and Paul edged closer. "What do you want?"

Ears flat to his skull, Sam whined unhappily. _She's been bitten; she's turning into one of _them_. We cannot allow that. _

"What-?" Present Peter began, but Future Peter cut him off.

"Ever heard of the butterfly effect, Sam?" At a shake of the black wolf's head he explained, "It's a theory about how our actions affect the future - as my mother put it, you step on a butterfly today and five years from now a million people are wiped out. With the events that were set in motion today, you have no idea how many butterflies I'm stepping on right now, and I'm doing it for _her_. Might end up saving the world too, but mostly it's about Bella. Just try hurting her and I'll rip your whole pack apart before you've picked one paw up."

_Now wait just a damn minute- _

Jacob vanished before he was able to finish his thought. In spite of everything that had gone wrong today, Future Peter couldn't deny that he enjoyed teleporting Jacob Black away, just for the fraction of a second it took him to do it; he'd never cared much for that overgrown mutt. Then he picked up Bella and turned to his past self, raising his voice to make himself heard over Bella's cries, whimpers, and heavy breathing. "You and Elle stay here and deal with those bloodsuckers; I'll take care of her."

"Is taking care of her a euphemism for dumping her in some African desert? Matt told me about that, and I haven't forgotten how you trapped me in Jesse's body - I don't trust you!"

"I would never hurt her - you should know that!" Future Peter refrained from mentioning that it really wasn't _him_ that had sent Matt to Africa - the ins and outs of time travel were too technical to get into right now, plus he suspected that argument wouldn't hold water after he'd just done something similar to Jacob, even if he'd only sent him back to La Push. "Look, I know how to help her, you don't. You may not want to trust me, but I know you'll go out on a limb for her."

"Fine, but if you hurt her..." Peter's threat was left hanging as his counterpart disappeared with Bella. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake trusting...well, trusting himself, really. In any case, it was hard to imagine what the other Peter could do that would leave her worse off than she already was.

Elle sidled up to him and whispered, "Future Peter's force field won't hold forever now he's left. What're we gonna do about the vamps?"

All the assembled supernatural creatures heard her whisper, of course. _Kill them! _Paul suggested.

"I don't think we have to do that," Peter argued. "You've seen their eyes - you know they aren't here to kill people."

Quil's eyes rolled nervously toward the captive vampires. _Maybe not, but they _are _here to kill us - or you, now they know you took out their dreadlocked buddy. I'm with Paul; letting them leave would be a mistake. They can always come back later. In our stories, killing one of their mates isn't something they forget. _

"I can make them forget, though. Quil, have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"

###

Claire paced the length of her living room; a combination of worry for her friends and fury that she'd been left behind made it impossible for her to keep still. So what if Seth had very specific orders to bring only Elle, and Claire's ability wouldn't be particularly useful in this fight? She should've made him take her anyway. She remembered all too clearly what happened the last time they went off to fight vampires without her...

At that moment, Future Peter arrived with Bella and called Claire upstairs. She ran to join him in her room and found Bella writhing in pain on her bed, her upper body soaked in blood from her shoulder. _I knew I should have gone with them! At least Bella's alive this time. _"What happened to her?"

"She's been bitten by a vampire."

"Okay, I'll get the syringe." They'd never had the means to test whether Claire's blood worked to counteract vampire venom, but she didn't know what else to do. Peter stopped her; Claire got her first good look at his face and realized he wasn't the Peter she knew. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to help. Your blood won't do anything for her now - this venom seals the veins as it moves through them so anything injected after it's useless. You need to give her your power directly, heal her from the inside out."

"But it doesn't work that way! I can only pass my healing to someone else through blood!"

"No, you can do more than that. Remember how Bella's shield evolved after you both exposed yourselves to the catalyst?"

"I remember what happened to _her_. Nothing's changed with me."

"You mean you haven't seen how your ability's changed because it's subtler than hers," Peter gently corrected her. "You can do more than you think you can, Claire; I'd offer to teach you but-" he was interrupted by a sharp cry from the hurt girl on the bed "-Bella doesn't have time for that, so we have to do this the quick way."

"What's the quick way?"

"Sit down next to Bella." When Claire had done so Future Peter took her hand and forced it into Bella's, telling Claire to hang on no matter how hard the brunette's nails dug into her skin, then entered Claire's mind. Finding the part that controlled her ability was easy. Claire's weird connection to Bella made channeling her power into the other girl even easier. Bella's screams stopped; her body seized up and then went limp.

"Is she unconscious?" Claire asked in a hushed almost-whisper.

Bella groaned and shook her head. "Nope, still here."

"How do you feel? Is the burning gone?"

"No...but it doesn't hurt...as much." A sudden spasm tore through her, making her gasp in pain.

"It's not working," Claire said anxiously.

"Give it time. The venom takes three days to work; maybe the cure-"

"You mean she'll be like this for _three days_?"

"If this...even..._is_ a cure," Bella pointed out in her weak, pain-roughened voice. "Where's...Peter...Present Peter, I mean...and Elle?"

They arrived just in time to catch her question. "I'm here," Peter told her, while Elle addressed his future-time counterpart.

"You, out. One Peter in this room is enough."

Bella frowned at Elle's abruptness, but Future Peter didn't seem to take offense - Elle never changed drastically in his timeline, so he was used to it. "I'll be outside," he said, and left.

"Do you really think he's found a way to counteract vampire venom?" Peter asked.

Claire started to answer but was cut off by Bella's firm 'no'.

"Why not? You don't think I'm up to it?" Claire demanded.

"'S not...you, Claire. I just know...what happens...is all."

"Bella, what are you talking about?"

"Listen to me!" Her outburst sent her into a choking fit, but she kept talking although her voice now rasped so much that it was difficult to make out her words. "This...is...imp...ortant. I-" She broke off, coughing.

Elle fetched a glass of water from the bathroom. "Drink this, it'll help."

Bella flashed her a grateful smile and then continued speaking to Peter. "I don't want you to feel bad...about what happens next."

"What happens next?" he repeated, bewildered. "How do you know-?"

"Usutu...showed me. When I went for that walk with him..."

"I remember. What'd he show you?"

"His painting...of...my future. I get it now." Bella took another sip of water and cleared her throat, not wanting to stumble over her next words. "I become a vampire...and you kill me."

**Next chapter: Peter talks to himself (in a manner of speaking) and we see a few scenes from Future Peter's timeline. It'll be fun if it doesn't make my brain explode. **


	19. La Fin Absolue du Monde

**Well I've broken my own chapter length record - 11 pages in Word and 4,805 words! Yay! The title is French for 'the absolute end of the world'; thank you selina972 for checking my translation!**

Chapter 19: _La Fin Absolue du Monde_

"I _what_?"

"Kill me." Bella reached her free hand up to touch Peter's face, which was rapidly paling. "It's okay, Peter. When I first saw the- ah!" She broke off, back arching as another painful spasm gripped her. When it was over she waved away Elle's offer of more water and continued, faster now. "...Saw...the painting...thought you could n-...never do it but...now I see...you wouldn't...without...a reason - like if I'm...a monster. Just don't...beat yourself...up later..."

"Bella, I am not going to kill you!"

"It's what happens." She closed her eyes, too exhausted to keep going now that she'd had her say.

"It doesn't have to be that way," Claire argued. "Like I told Nathan once, the future isn't written in stone. You can't seriously think killing Bella is part of your destiny, Peter!"

"No, I don't - I can't see how I'm supposed to even if she is a...vampire." Saying the word felt wrong; Peter simply couldn't reconcile his concepts of vampires and Bella. This worried him a little - if Claire's ability couldn't cure her and she turned, maybe he wouldn't see her as Bella anymore. Maybe he _would_ be able to kill her. Maybe he already had. "I wish I knew..." he muttered.

Claire guessed what he meant. "If you wanna talk to yourself, go ahead."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? He said he'd take out the whole pack just like that-" Elle punctuated her statement with a snap of her fingers "-if they touched Bella! He's dangerous, and he might have powers you don't."

"Yeah, but you're forgetting that I'm him - or I will be. If he really is a cold-blooded killer, I need to find out why so I don't turn into that!"

"Yes you do."

"Bella? Sorry, I didn't know you were awake; I'll stay if you want me to."

Her head turned a fraction of an inch to either side. "It's fine - I'm not going anywhere." She laughed weakly at her own joke, and Peter forced a smile for her sake although smiling was the last thing he felt like doing while she was in this state. "Go on, just...hurry back?"

Peter kissed her (Elle and Claire pointedly stared anywhere but at them, and Claire began humming under her breath), then left. He found Future Peter in the front yard, jacket-less despite the cool night, pacing like a caged animal. "Hey. We need to talk."

Future Peter said nothing to encourage conversation, just stopped pacing and fixed his past self with a cool stare. This wasn't exactly an invitation to continue, but Peter persisted. "Bella doesn't think Claire's power can cure a vampire bite-"

"It can."

"You know that? How?"

Future Peter hesitated. "Well, it should work...in theory."

"So you didn't try it in your time. Where'd you get the idea?"

"It was obvious after I realized the catalyst had given Claire the ability to heal people without giving them her blood. Right now she needs more practice before she can do it for just anyone, but I was ninety-eight percent sure she could do it for Bella once I understood their connection better."

"Once you understood better?" Peter backed away. "You have Sylar's ability?"

"So do you."

"But I don't use it! Bella-"

"Bella's blocks can be broken. There's only a handful of people on the planet powerful enough to do it, but it's not impossible. You could do it right now if you wanted the intuition back."

Peter's eyes widened. "Not by accident, though...right?" He remembered his struggle to keep that dangerous power from turning him into another Sylar all too vividly. If the hunger returned when he was unprepared...

"No, Bella's too strong for you to break through without trying."

"So you tried."

"Don't look at me like that! I had to-"

"-To save her? You said that's why you're here, so she _is _dead in your time, isn't she?"

This question got only the slightest hint of a nod, but it was enough. Peter sucked in a sharp breath. "Did you kill her?"

"Not the way she thought I would."

_3 days in the future_

"Claire, Elle, I think maybe you should leave."

Bella's heart rate had sped up considerably in the last thirty minutes, which probably meant it was almost over. Peter hoped so - he wasn't sure how much longer he could watch this. At least the screaming had stopped; Bella's throat was too dry to produce sound even though they'd given her water whenever they could get her to swallow.

"No way! I'm not leaving her now!"

"She isn't dying, Claire," Peter said impatiently. "If you stay..." He left it there, not wanting to tell Claire that the next time Bella opened her eyes she would probably see Claire more as a snack than a friend. There was no point saying it anyway; it was nothing Claire didn't already know.

The former cheerleader's face took on a stubborn expression that her uncle knew all too well. "Okay, I'll go. After you." She gestured to the door.

"I'll be fine - I can handle vamps, remember?"

"Then you can make sure she doesn't hurt...well, Elle, since I can't even _get_ hurt."

Peter saw he wasn't going to win this one. "Have it your way. Just remember, I can't promise she'll still be your best friend when she wakes up. You know what she's changing into." That much was obvious - over the last day Bella's skin had become even whiter, her extremities had gone cold, and Peter could swear her eyes had gleamed red in the last second before she'd closed them.

At that moment, Bella went from breathing heavily to outright panting, and her lips parted to give everyone a good look at her teeth. They glistened eerily even in the semi-dim lamplight and their edges seemed sharper.

Claire gulped but didn't waver. "Human or vampire, she's still Bella. We don't know what'll be going through her head when she wakes up - she could be confused or scared, and she shouldn't be left alone!"

"Guys!" Elle cried suddenly. Bella had gone stiff, her back arched up off the bed, one hand scratching weakly at her chest. "What's happening to her?"

Peter checked the pulse at her wrist and felt her heart racing like a runaway train, thundering so fast it seemed like it would explode...and then it stopped. She slumped back to the mattress and lay utterly still, her icy arm limp in Peter's grasp.

"Is she...?" Claire leaned over the bed, blonde hair spilling over her shoulder and falling right under her vampirized friend's nose.

"Claire, no!"

The warning came too late - Bella's eyes, so red they glowed, opened suddenly as she lunged, snapping at Claire's face. Elle blasted her; Bella's shield protected her from actually being hurt, but she froze just long enough for Peter to grab her.

He teleported her to the first unpopulated location that popped into his mind, which happened to be the grasslands of Africa, then threw her to the ground and kept her pinned down with telekinesis, just like in Usutu's painting. She could have blocked him and freed herself, but it didn't seem to have occurred to her - she simply lay there on the hot sand, staring unblinkingly up at him with those demonic ruby-red eyes. "Are you going to kill me, Peter?" Her voice sounded completely different: clear and musical, like a bell.

"Of course not, but you need to get a grip - you just attacked Claire!"

"I didn't mean to! She came too close and I'm so _thirsty_!" She thrashed against her metaphysical restraints.

"Go hunt, then." This area's human population was nil, but there was plenty of wildlife. Peter let her up - and she sprang at him, raking a diamond-hard nail across his face. He threw her away from him and electrocuted her; she picked herself up and ran away in search of prey incapable of fighting her off, pausing only to snarl over her shoulder at him.

###

She stayed gone for the rest of the day, making Peter wonder why he didn't leave as well - he wasn't even sure she was coming back and if she did, who's to say it wouldn't be to take another snap at him? Still, he couldn't bring himself to just take off without a word, effectively stranding her here. V_amp or not, she's still Bella. She just got out of control once _- strangely, the wound she'd given him still smarted -_ but I can help her. _If_ she comes back. _

Her return was silent, stealthy, but Peter sensed her presence nonetheless. He got up quickly, relieved. "You came back. I was afraid maybe you wouldn't-" He broke off when she compensated for his step toward her by stepping back. "Bella, what is it?"

She didn't answer immediately, just stood a few yards away, watching him with a sort of wary curiosity. "You stayed," she said at last. "You shouldn't have."

"Why not? You can't still be thirsty." Peter indicated the dried blood staining her shirt and crusting around her mouth. "What did you...feed on anyway?"

"Wildebeest."

"Tasty."

"Yeah... You need to leave now."

"Okay. Come on."

Bella shook her head. "Peter, you don't understand. _You_ need to leave. Without me. I don't want to hurt you more than I already have, so you shouldn't be anywhere near me."

"Hurt me? It's just one little scratch!"

"One little scratch that hasn't healed. Look, I can't trust myself around you or anyone else; I'm not _your_ Bella anymore."

"You'll always be my Bella."

"Maybe someday, after I learn some control - if the Cullens could do it I'm sure I can too - and then I'll come home. You've just gotta give me some time."

"I can do that, but if I haven't heard from you after a year or two I _will_ find you. Drag you back by your hair if I have to."

"I'm counting on it."

_Present_

"Is that it? You just left her there?"

Future Peter shrugged. "She told me to go. What should I have done - make her come back with me after she'd said she couldn't be around people? Her mind was too all over the place for her to block me, so I could've controlled her, but I had to sleep sometimes and she never did."

"Okay, I see your point," Peter conceded. "So did she keep her promise?"

_3 years in the future_

_Just let me finish my coffee, then I'll go home for my book. I'll make it to class if I run. _These were Claire's thoughts when a person-shaped shadow fell over her.

"Hello, Claire." The voice sounded female, and its owner was too short and slight to be a guy. Unfortunately Claire couldn't discern anything more than gender because the girl was wearing a jacket with an oversized hood and sunglasses that completely obscured her face - Claire could make out the line of her jaw, that was it. She even had her hands shoved deep in her pockets although the day was warm.

"Do I know you?" Claire felt sure she'd remember if she'd met anyone on campus who wore their jacket with the hood pulled up in late spring.

The hood bobbed up and down. "Come inside with me, please." Hoodie Girl walked over to the cafe's door but wouldn't remove her hands from her pockets to open it.

Claire got the door with a huff, juggling her coffee cup to do so and feeling that her self-proclaimed acquaintance was a bit rude. "Look, I don't know where I know you from or why you won't open doors for yourself, but I'm gonna be late for...class..." Her mouth went dry as Hoodie Girl finally pushed back her hood and took off her shades, exposing an angular white face and amber eyes. Claire had never seen a vampire up close (except for that one moment between Bella turning and Peter taking her away; she was just a little fuzzy on everything from that time besides the _teeth_), but she'd gathered enough from Peter's and Elle's descriptions to know that that was being rectified this very moment. Yet there was something almost familiar about this particular vampire. That meant she could only be... "...Bella?"

"Long time, no see. Claire, I'm so sorry I didn't say goodbye and never came back, but I just couldn't. You saw what I did to Peter..."

"Yeah, he's still got a scar where you scratched him. I don't know why."

Bella seemed pained by this news. "Apart from that how is he?"

"As good as you'd expect a guy whose girlfriend turned into a vampire and ditched him to be. So...I'm guessing he doesn't know you're back. You _are_ back, aren't you?"

"If I don't get kicked out."

###

Peter didn't kick her out, but neither could he accept her back right away. He didn't blame her for disfiguring him or for wanting to stay away from people until she regained some self-control; her pushing him away was the part he couldn't get past. She hadn't trusted him to be there for her while she adjusted to life as a vampire, and that hurt more than her nails on his face. He still loved her in spite of the pain she'd caused him, though, so when she offered to leave again if he didn't want her around, he replied that he'd rather she stayed, then disappeared into his bedroom. At some point in the near future they would have to have a long talk about their relationship, but first he needed time to sort out his feelings, which she had once again thrown into chaos.

He woke suddenly in the middle of the night, his skin prickling, senses on high alert, with an inexplicable feeling of not being alone. A quick glance around revealed no one else in the room, yet he was sure there was someone...

"Relax, Peter, it's only me."

"Bella?"

"Right here." She appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, at the foot of his bed.

He didn't like to think how she'd gotten inside when he was positive both door and window had been closed, and as for what she was _doing_ there... "Why are you in my room?"

"You said I could stay."

"In this house," Peter clarified. "Not in _my room_!"

She ducked her head in a show of contrition. "Sorry. Nights are pretty slow for me, and I wanted to be close to you." Seeing that he was about to speak, she rushed on. "I know it's weird, me being back after so long, and it'll take some time to figure the whole 'us' thing out-"

"You get why I need time, don't you?" Peter interrupted. "You show up out of the blue three years after telling me to take a hike-"

"Not because I didn't want you with me!" Bella's golden eyes flicked over his scarred face, the sight reaffirming her conviction. "It was better that you stayed away."

"Because you caught me off guard _one time_? I could've made sure it never happened again."

"Yes, but I'd have been running off to hunt all the time and showing up covered in blood. I couldn't let you see me like that! Knowing how you think of vampires, I was afraid it might change the way you feel about me."

"And how I'd feel about you being gone so long never crossed your mind?"

"I was more worried about you seeing me as a monster," Bella answered. "Now I just hope you'll give me a chance to fix the damage I've done. Unless you've met someone new?"

_It's been three years and we've moved out of Forks - I've met lots of new people. _Peter bit back the retort, knowing that wasn't what she meant. In the context of Bella's inquiry, the only person who came close to counting was Emma from the hospital's filing room - at least she might have if Bella had waited another month or two to make her reappearance. As things stood... "...Nope, no one important."

Bella's smile lit up her whole face, but she only said, "I'm glad."

"Right." Peter looked meaningfully at the clock, which now read 4 AM. "Can we pick this conversation up later? Some of us need sleep."

"Sorry, I'm being inconsiderate, keeping you up like this. I'll let you sleep now. Mind if I stay?"

"Remember our discussion about how watching someone sleep is creepy? Anyway, your staring is what woke me up in the first place."

Bella bowed her head and rose to leave; Peter called her back.

"Hey, I don't mean you have to leave. Just don't stare at me." He lifted the bedcovers, inviting her to crawl in.

She was beside him in a flash, with his t-shirt in hand although he hadn't seen her pause to pick it up. "Put this on - I don't want to give you hypothermia." He reached for it, but at the last second she pulled it away and jumped up to fetch a thicker shirt with long sleeves. "Better safe than sorry."

"You're making _way_ too much fuss - just give me my shirt. Now."

Bella handed the shirt over then, once Peter was clothed to her satisfaction, curled herself beside him the way she used to, resting her head gingerly on his chest and hooking one leg over his stomach. "Is this uncomfortable for you?"

Peter sighed. "I'm fine, Bella; I just wish you weren't so stiff. Relax - I won't break or freeze from touching you. And quit with the staring!"

"Okay." Bella immediately let herself go limp, closed her eyes, and began breathing deeply and evenly. Peter wondered whether she had been mistaken and vampires actually could sleep - until, without breaking her breathing pattern, she asked if this was better.

"That's more like it. Go back to pretending you're asleep, Bella."

_Present_

"Sounds like Bella becoming a vamp wasn't too big a problem then. But wait a minute... You said she was dead when you jumped through time, so if you didn't kill her what happened?"

"The Volturi-" Future Peter spat the name like a particularly vile form of profanity "-happened." Seeing his counterpart's look of non-comprehension he said, "Bella hasn't talked about them much."

It was a statement, not a question, but Peter went ahead and replied in the affirmative. Future Peter then explained who the Volturi were and their role in the vampire world: ensuring that vampires kept their existence secret from humans. Bella, a vampire with human friends and a human mate who were fully aware of what she was, had seriously violated that law.

"So they _killed_ her?"

Future Peter suppressed an urge to roll his eyes at his past self's naïveté; he had to remember that this wasn't his world, where killing people and vamps alike was a daily occurrence. "There are no vampire jails, so yeah, they killed her. I wasn't there, didn't even know they'd caught her till it was too late - she just went to class with Claire one day and never came back. Bella didn't want me fighting the Volturi to save her; she shielded herself so my clairvoyance gave me nothing until after she was dead. Then I was able to find Claire...but it wasn't pretty."

_4 years in the future_

The fight had been short but brutal, if 'fight' was indeed the best word. Since the Volturi had never thought of needing to defend themselves against a human and certainly had no clue what a truly pissed off Peter Petrelli was capable of, perhaps 'slaughter' would be more accurate to describe what had just taken place in the Volturi castle's eternally shadowy throne room. Now the vampire rulers and their infamous guard were annihilated, ripped apart, disintegrated, or destroyed by Peter phasing his fist through their chests and emitting radiation. He'd once blown up a vamp this way; now he had discovered that with a little control the process could be dragged out and made more painful, slowly rotting the vampire's body from the inside out rather than blasting it to bits. That was good. Aro, Marcus, and Caius didn't deserve a quick, relatively painless exit, not after what they'd done to Bella...

...And also Claire. In fact, her fate might actually be worse - she tasted good, and her ability replenished her blood almost as fast as a vampire could drink it, meaning they could keep coming back for seconds. Witnessing her best friend's violent death and then being used as an all-you-can-eat buffet by the Volturi and their guards seemed to have damaged her in a way that not even she could heal; she'd stayed in the corner where Caius had tossed her when Peter burst in, watching the extermination of the Volturi with a kind of blank horror.

Her expression remained unchanged when Peter pulled her to her feet and she refused to answer his anxious queries about what had been done to her, why she was covered in bloodstains, etc. Finally he gave up the interrogation as a lost cause - Claire was obviously not inclined to talk about the Volturi, or anything else for that matter - took her home, and handed her over to Elle for cleaning up.

"What's up with her?" Elle demanded upon emerging from Claire's room a couple hours later.

"She didn't say anything to you?"

"Nope, not a word, _and_ I had to tell her to put on her pj's! It was more like playing with a really big doll than dealing with a person." Elle used the derisive tone that she reserved especially for Claire, but there was an undercurrent of worry as well. "What exactly happened to her?"

"Not sure - I have an idea but don't know the details. That's why I hoped she would've talked to you."

Elle snorted. "Right, 'cause Pompom and I are bestest buddies." Peter cringed; Elle absorbed this and after a moment's thought asked solemnly, "Bella's dead, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry." Elle laid a comforting hand on his arm. Peter almost shook her off, but then he saw the tears gathering in her eyes, realized the comfort wasn't only for him, and let it stay.

###

Days passed, then weeks, and Claire failed to recover from whatever she'd been subjected to. She never spoke anymore and wouldn't eat, get up, change clothes, or do anything a normal person would unless someone else prompted her - just skulked around the house like a wraith with that haunted, hunted-animal look in her eyes.

For some time Peter thought that this, rather than a nuclear explosion, viral outbreak, or superpowers made available for public consumption, must be the real apocalypse - it certainly felt like the absolute end of the world to him, and possibly Elle too. Claire's exact feelings were a mystery - Peter had tried digging into her mind in his efforts to reach her and found it inaccessible, a leftover defense mechanism courtesy of Bella - however, he could be sure she wasn't happy.

Then the attacks started down in Mexico. To someone who knew what to look for, they were obviously a vampire's handiwork: the victims had been beaten with force well beyond the capability of most humans, their blood completely drained. Before, the perpetrator would have been destroyed by the Volturi for feeding so conspicuously and drawing human attention; now that the Volturi were gone, the killings went unpunished.

Soon other vampires, first those in the south, then covens farther north, realized they were free to kill and feed with impunity. Within a month, a rash of brutal, gruesome murders swept the Americas, then spread overseas to the other continents. The vampires also became increasingly careless, resulting in the general public discovering what was really going on after a super-strong evolved human managed to fight off a vampire attacker, surviving to tell the tale of his family's murder and inadvertently exposing himself at the same time.

That was how the world became aware of the powers certain people possessed, but for once those people weren't persecuted. Instead they were used as _very_ special kind of Special Forces to fight the vampires. Most were willing recruits; the ones who were unwilling...well, no one ever found out precisely what happened to them, and it wasn't important.

What _was _important was that worldwide interspecies war was beginning to affect the planet adversely. Human scientists had discovered that radiation killed vampires; it worked best if the nukes could be phased inside the vamps, but with a large enough yield they worked just as well from the outside. The downside was that they also left sizeable patches of scorched wasteland and filled the skies with ash, plunging the world into nuclear winter. Fallout, coupled with vampire attacks, had forced most of the remaining human population into heavily-fortified, safety-sealed 'bubble cities', as Peter termed them.

He and Elle steered clear of them except when they went to see Claire, who now lived with Nathan and Tracy Strauss, his First Lady. Apart from those visits they stayed on the outside, carrying out their own anti-vampire operations independent of President Petrelli's army of specials. They had also stayed friends - in fact their shared grief over Bella's death had brought them closer together than ever before - but nothing more. Nobody could quite fill Bella's shoes - stubborn, terminally clumsy, quirky, reckless, selfless Bella - and Peter was grateful that Elle knew better than to try. He didn't _want_ Bella's shoes filled.

He was genuinely glad to have Elle as his vamp-hunting partner and companion, though. She was a little more subdued now - even she couldn't live in times like these and remain totally unaffected - but mostly unchanged from the teasing, sarcastic girl he'd met years ago in Primatech's holding facility. She was also still very much the lethal agent, which came in handy.

Because she could take care of herself so well, Peter didn't have to feel at all guilty about keeping her with him instead of insisting she move into a city where she'd be safer...or so he thought until the morning he was awakened by an awful wet hacking sound and found Elle in the bathroom, spitting up blood. Peter knew instantly what the problem was: he used radiation in killing vampires, and it had finally gotten to his partner. "Oh Elle, I'm so sorry."

"Don't...be," she croaked in between coughs. When the fit passed she gulped some water, cleared her throat, and continued in a hoarse voice. "Living out here, it could be fallout that made me sick."

"Liar - there isn't enough fallout in these parts to do this and you know it. It was me."

"Probably."

###

Peter took Elle to a hospital, only to find out that prolonged exposure had thoroughly poisoned her system. Curing her was no longer an option; all the doctors could do was make her last days moderately painless.

After what was probably the hundredth 'I'm sorry' from Peter, Elle lost patience and pulled her hand out of his. "Don't be sorry, fix it. I know-" pause for coughing "-you're hesitant to try altering time...but look around you. This world's already in the toilet - you can't make it worse."

"I can't make it better either. Killing the Volturi is what started the war but...if I went back I don't think I could stop myself taking them down all over again." Part of him wished he could repeat that experience - and make it last longer. "As long as they kill Bella, I'll kill them."

Elle gave him a look that plainly asked, _Are you stupid? _"So save Bella. It's not a selfish thing to do if you save the world at the same time."

"How, though? I don't know exactly what tipped them off, made them decide to kill her. I don't understand..." Peter fell silent as the proverbial lightbulb flashed on. He knew what he had to do.

"Peter?"

"See you later, Elle - and when I do, you'll be well again and none of this will ever have happened, I promise!" He departed posthaste, leaving behind a very confused terminal patient.

###

That evening, Peter threw all his power into breaking the sole permanent block Bella had placed on his powers - the one keeping his intuitive aptitude dormant. He experienced a momentary sensation of beating his head against a brick wall - which just happened to exist _inside_ his head - and wondered if his brain was about to explode and leak out his ears... Then the dam broke. Peter collapsed into a chair, exhausted and strangely saddened, and just how pathetic was it that his last and best memento of his departed vampire girlfriend had been a _mental block_?

Emotion vanished before he had a chance to muse on that, swept away as a brilliant new understanding unfolded in his mind. It hadn't been anything Bella did after turning that caused her death; vampires were not adaptable creatures, not able to leave one mate and find another, and Peter's powers made changing _him_ impossible, so Bella had been doomed from the moment of her transformation. He also understood as never before how the catalyst had tied Bella to Claire, knew they had never even begun to explore what they could've done with that connection, and finally realized that this was why he could no longer touch Claire's mind, why she had been left broken after Bella's death.

And maybe, just maybe, he now knew how to save Bella. If he was lucky he might even save the world too.

**So I guess by now you've all heard about Heroes being cancelled. It's a bummer; I'd really hoped they'd be back next season, but I can't say I didn't see this coming. Who else thought the whole thing with Matt going back to his (ex?)-wife was REALLY boring and/or absolutely HATED Samuel Sullivan and thought the whole carnival storyline was whacked? **


	20. And the Beat Goes On

**Looky here, I've taken way too long to update - again! Sadly I had to cut the chapter down from what I'd planned for it, just so I could post something before people started wondering if I'd died. **

**On another note, toward the end is the smuttiest scene I've ever written (as well as some serious cock-blocking). I know I've included sexual references in past chapters; however I've mostly focused on the emotional aspect, as that's what I believe is most important in any relationship. This time I've veered a bit more toward the physical. Consider yourselves warned. **

Chapter 20: And the Beat Goes On

_BPOV_

Hell. I didn't know when I'd died or what I'd done to wind up there, but I knew that was where I must be. Vampire venom had entered my bloodstream once before and that had been the most physically painful moment of my life, till Edward had sucked it out. I wished he was here to do that again, because Future Peter's method of treatment wasn't working. Not that Claire was unable to transfer her ability into me - _that_ part worked fine - the problem was that that blonde vamp's venom was harder to purge from my system than your average poison; I supposed that if I'd accidentally swallowed arsenic or something I would be fine by now.

This venom on the other hand persisted in spreading and it was _everywhere_, invading and changing every molecule of my being. The power I leeched from Claire reversed the process, but I didn't know if it could rid me of the venom completely, or if I would be stuck in this cycle of alteration and reversal forever. I did know I couldn't take this forever; in fact, I doubted I could take another minute of it.

Giving in and cutting myself off from Claire, just letting the transformation happen would be easier than keeping up the cell-deep conflict raging inside me, yet I kept fighting because I knew what would happen if I quit. Peter would kill me. Peter would see me as a monster. Peter wouldn't love me anymore, and even though death would be preferable to going through that kind of rejection again, I was really in no hurry to die - assuming I wasn't _already_ dead and in hell, of course; I couldn't be too certain on that point.

But then, if I was still alive, shouldn't Peter be with me? He was the whole reason it was worth trying to beat back the venom creeping through my system; I really needed him...

_End BPOV_

"Are you sure this ability-channeling thing is helping? Because Bella's forehead feels like it's on fire, and I don't think she's supposed to get a fever-"

Elle shut Claire up by throwing Bella's leftover water in her face. "Will you put a damn sock in it? I'm no expert on treating vampire poisoning, so what the hell're you asking me for?"

Claire opened her mouth to retort, only to get cut off by Bella. "Uhh...Peter...need..."

"What was that?" Elle wondered. "Did she say she needs Peter, or does Peter need something?"

"Probably it doesn't mean anything; Bella talks in her sleep all the time," Claire supplied. "That's why I told her not to sleep in my room anymore when she stays here - it's hard to sleep with your best friend moaning your uncle's name in your ear all night."

"Moaning, huh? Who knew sweet little Bella has dreams like that?"

"Ugh! I'd rather not think about it, if you don't mind!"

"And who knew you were such a squeam queen? I always thought cheerleaders were supposed to be kinda slutty."

"Okay, that's it! You can leave now; in fact you can go out _that_ way." Claire pointed at the window.

"If I get thrown out any windows, you're coming with me, Pompom."

Claire jumped up, intending to test Elle's seriousness, and inadvertently broke her contact with Bella. Without Claire's power to dull it, the burning pain from Irina's venom ripped through her, jolting her awake for just a second before her eyes rolled back in her head. This was too much for her already overtaxed heart, which stuttered madly, then stopped.

Elle was horrified. Sure, she enjoyed nettling Claire whenever the opportunity arose, but she would've refrained from doing it now if she'd known it'd cause Bella to have a freaking _heart attack_. She slammed her palm down on the brunette's chest, delivering a carefully calculated shock. Bella's heart restarted, though its beats were too erratic to be reassuring. Claire grabbed her hand again, holding it more tightly than before; now that she'd done it once with Future Peter's help, pushing her power into the other girl was easy, automatic as breathing.

Bella relaxed, her hand tightening around Claire's as if she desperately needed something - or some_one_ - to hold on to, but her face remained twisted in pain, and now drenched in cold sweat as well. Claire brushed an errant strand of damp dark hair off her unconscious friend's forehead, feeling real fear now. She'd accepted Future Peter's word that Bella becoming a vampire was an undesirable outcome although he hadn't exactly explained himself - and she had to admit to feeling some uncertainty about having a mythical monster for a best friend - yet that didn't come anywhere close to Bella actually _dying_. If that happened it would feel more like losing a sister than just a friend, and Claire didn't think she could handle it. "Elle, I need you to go get Peter, please."

"Which Peter?"

"Either one!" She resumed brushing her free hand through Bella's hair, even though it was anyone's guess whether Bella appreciated or was even aware of the comforting gesture. "I just need to know what's going on with her."

###

After a couple horribly dragged-out seconds of frantic searching, Elle found the two Peters - _Damn, they're creepy together_ - and brought them both back to Claire's room. "I don't guess you know why Bella's heart stopped a minute ago, do you? And can you haul your futuristic ass outta here - soon?"

"She's not used to taking Claire's power into herself; doing that at the same time as she's trying to fight this poison is overloading her."

"Oh crap!" Elle and Claire exclaimed in unison. They both knew what power overloads could do to people like them: Elle had experienced it firsthand, while Claire had heard how Peter had first ended up in a coma, then later exploded. At least Bella wasn't likely to go nuclear, but... "...Will she be okay?"

Future Peter fixed the re-gen with his dark gaze, making her gulp. "I don't know, Claire. It depends on whether she's strong enough to keep herself going until the venom's out of her system."

"Keep herself going?" Elle repeated incredulously. "She isn't even _conscious_!"

"That doesn't mean her mind's quit working," Peter replied before his future-time counterpart could say anything. "And if her mind's there then I can reach her." It was a nice theory, anyway - whatever mind-to-mind contact he'd had with Bella in the past had been instigated by her on the few occasions when she'd deigned to lower her defenses and let him in. He had no idea what might happen if he tried forcing the connection without her cooperation, or if he'd even be able to; he only knew that if ever there was a time for violating the privacy of Bella's mind, it was now. _Here goes everything. _

_Okay Bella, I know I'm not supposed to push my thoughts into your head, but I need you to hear this. You've gotta stay human because Future Me says you'll die if you change, that there's no way around it. Not sure if I believe him or not; now that I know what happens it seems like I should be able to stop it...and it doesn't really matter. Just stay alive. I don't care if it's as a human or a vampire, I don't care if I have to spend the rest of my life hiding from the Volturi with you, I just need you to stay with me, Bella. Please. Just stay alive for me, one way or another. _

Somewhere in there he'd picked up Bella's free hand as though touching her physically would help him touch her mind. Now he pressed her palm to his face, praying he'd gotten through to her. Several agonizing seconds - or was it hours? - ticked past, and then he heard her 'voice' in his mind. It was faint, the telepathic equivalent to a weak whisper, but it was enough.

_I'll stay. _

###

_Manhattan, NY_

Angela Petrelli sat at a desk in her bedroom, lamp on, nightgown covered by a satin robe - clearly the unannounced visitor who'd decided to drop by at 2 AM wasn't a huge surprise to her. "So, you're back. Does your coming here mean you're finally ready to get off your high horse and listen to me?"

"Well, that and I was told to get my futuristic ass out of Forks - apparently I'm creepy." Future Peter abruptly tired of small talk and got straight to the point. "Did I do it? Did I stop that future from happening?"

"You've changed the future, yes." Angela pursed her lips. "Couldn't you have done it without letting Claire know the full scope of her connection with Isabella, though?"

"Why keep them in the dark?" Future Peter countered. "In my time they never got a chance to find out what they could do with it; maybe it'll be useful to them in this one."

"Useful? It's unnatural! You should never have split the catalyst between those girls!"

He sighed, grateful that the lamp wasn't bright enough for Angela to see his slight eye-roll, though being his mother she probably sensed it regardless. "Maybe I wouldn't have if I'd known the catalyst existed, or that Claire was its host! Did you ever stop to think-?"

"Oh who d'you think you're kidding? I could've told you everything and you still would've brought that Swan girl back. Tell me, Peter...is she really worth all the trouble you go to for her?"

"She really is. Hey, now that she's not gonna be the reason for me starting World War Three, you should get to know her. You might actually like her."

Angela looked as if she'd just bitten into a particularly juicy lime. But, "Perhaps I will," she reluctantly agreed. "It seems I'll have ample opportunity to find out, since it looks like she'll be part of your life, and by extension mine, for a long time to come."

Future Peter gave her a bracing pat on the shoulder. "Thanks, Mom."

He teleported out, right before a half-asleep Nathan paused on his way back from the bathroom and poked his head in the doorway. "Ma? Who're you talking to?"

"No one. Go back to bed, dear."

###

_BPOV_

Upon waking up, I immediately became aware of two things: one, my right hand was stiff and aching. Two, there was some sort of dead weight pressing down on my chest. I forced my too-heavy eyelids open and looked blearily around, surprised to find myself in Claire's room. I hadn't slept here in ages. Even more puzzling, I was fully clothed and lying on top of the bed rather than in it, with Claire asleep beside me. Elle - also still dressed - was curled up on a beanbag, while Peter seemed to have spent the night perched on the edge of the mattress and at some point had decided to use me as a pillow, hence the weight on my chest. Well, I didn't mind it, but he couldn't be very comfortable.

Unclenching my sore fingers and freeing myself from Claire's grasp proved to be an almost monumental task, but once I had accomplished it, bringing my hand up to ruffle Peter's hair was easy. "Peter. Hey, Peter! Psst!"

"Huh? What?" He blinked a lot before his eyes finally met mine. He seemed ridiculously happy to see me until I expressed my confusion over why we were all having a sleepover in Claire's room without ever bothering to actually put on our pajamas. Then he gave me one of his 'I'm worrying about your mental health' looks. "You don't remember? Vampires, werewolves - none of that rings a bell?"

"I remember fighting the Denali coven...and Future You was there... He shape-shifted into you and kissed me, you know." I frowned. "I can't believe that fooled me - I should've known he wasn't you."

"Technically he _is_ me; it's an understandable mistake."

My frown deepened. "Well, I hope _you_ don't end up becoming _him_. He was so... I got a feeling he was a pretty unhappy person."

"Yeah. The future he came from didn't sound like good place to live. Now, what else do you remember about yesterday?"

"Just the fight, shielding you...and one of those vampires bit me! Everything after that is a bit blurry, like a bad dream - about being tortured. Oh, and you were in it too."

Peter put on a wounded expression. "Nice to know you associate me with torture."

Instead of teasing him back, I stayed perfectly serious for once. "You were the not-torturous part. It hurt so much I almost thought I'd rather die than take another minute of the pain, but then there you were, telling me not to give up, just like always."

"You heard what I said, then?"

"Yup. You saved me again. I do have one question though." I waited for his okay before going on. "Well...I know I was probably delirious or something like that...but I could've sworn you said all you wanted was for me to stay alive, that you didn't care if I lived as a human or a vampire. Does that mean you wouldn't have killed me after all?"

"Even in that future I never killed you, Bella." Peter then gave me a rundown of what he'd learned from his future self about what might have been.

By the time he finished my jaw was hanging open, and my eyes were tearing up. "You mean to say I was killed by the vampire rulers because vampires _aren't allowed to have human mates_? Funny how none of the Cullens ever mentioned that tiny little detail to me!" Claire stirred as my voice rose; I made an effort to modulate my volume. "And you killed the Volturi just for me... That's kind of romantic, in a twisted way," I mused. Peter gave me a look that clearly said, _You have a weird idea of romance._ "I just meant it's touching that you did all that for me. Sometimes it feels like you care more about saving the world than you ever could about just one person - it was nice to be your first priority for once, that's all."

Peter dropped his gaze from mine and muttered, "It wasn't actually me that did all that stuff. I didn't really do much of anything."

I shifted onto my knees, cupped his face in my hands and made him look me in the eye. "I know you would have if you'd been in Future Peter's place - after all, you're technically the same person. Have I told you lately how lucky I am to have you?" I pressed my mouth to his, knowing beyond a doubt that I hadn't done _this_ in far too long.

Our kiss lasted longer than it should have, neither of us willing to pull away even with oxygen becoming an issue, until Elle woke up and threw her makeshift pillow (a fuzzy sweater of Claire's) at us. "Get a room, you two."

"This _is_ a room," Peter pointed out.

"Well then get one that doesn't have me in it," Elle growled. Her joints popped as she got up, muttering that she was never sleeping on the floor again, no matter what, and throwing in a few dark hints that I was to blame for the uncomfortable night she'd passed.

This in turn roused Claire, who reminded Elle that no one had forced her to stay with me. "Braving a lumpy beanbag just to see if Bella was all right - aw Elle, you _do_ care!"

"Shut up. I need breakfast before dealing with you."

My stomach chose that moment to growl embarrassingly loudly; it seemed I needed breakfast as well. I jumped up, intending to run downstairs and scarf the first food items to touch my fingers - and promptly fell back down, my head spinning, knees too wobbly to support me, and an irritating buzzing noise ringing in my ears. The events of last night must've drained me more than I'd realized.

Claire's face swam into focus among the white lights popping before my eyes, wearing a look of concern.

"'M okay," I hastily reassured her. "But I think the standing up thing might be a problem."

"That's fine." Claire picked my legs up by the ankles and swung them back onto her bed. "You just rest here and let someone else make breakfast for once. Waffles and fried eggs sound good?"

"Anything sounds good," I told her over another rumble from my painfully empty stomach. My insides felt like they'd been hollowed out.

Claire and Elle trooped off to the kitchen, leaving me alone with Peter, who'd been instructed to stay with me in case I had another attack of vertigo and somehow managed to fall off the bed. "Claire isn't really worried about you falling - as if you could lying down," Peter told me once his niece was out of earshot. "She just thought it would be a shame for you to survive vampire poisoning only to be done in by my cooking. Is it really that bad?"

I bit my lip to keep from sighing too audibly. I'd had my own reasons for agreeing that Peter shouldn't leave me alone, none of which included consoling him over his lack of culinary skills. "You aren't the worst cook I know." That dubious honor still belonged to Charlie. "You just have a slight-" Okay, not so slight if I was being brutally honest "-tendency to burn things. And forget to stir so that the food ends up stuck to the bottom of the pot. And-"

"Okay, okay, I get the message."

"Good. And you know, it really doesn't matter to me that you can't cook. There are plenty of other things you can do that I like more." I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck in a not-so-subtle hint.

Peter's eyes flicked eagerly to my lips, but he decided to play a bit before giving me what we both wanted. "You're supposed to be resting; you can't even stand up, and what kind of man takes advantage of a sick girl?"

"Sick, my ass. Just because I got a little dizzy... Still, I'll lie down if it's so important to you." I leaned backward but kept my hold on him. Peter gently lowered me onto the mattress, pressing me into it as he finally stopped teasing and kissed me - softly at first, then slowly building into something more intense, demanding, but still tender. I made a strange sound that was half moan, half whimper and began hyperventilating. Peter disengaged from my mouth to let me breathe but defeated the purpose by kissing my neck instead, which did nothing to make my respiration easier. In fact it made my heart thunder so hard I was amazed my ribcage didn't shatter. I could be in serious danger of heart failure, but I didn't care; I'd had so many near-death experiences already that they were getting less and less upsetting, and this was a highly enjoyable way of risking my life, as those things went.

When his own need for air forced him to pull away and allow an inch of space between us, I attended to my uncomfortably bunched-up shirt, except instead of tugging it back down I worked it up further, slowly uncovering more skin. I stopped just short of baring my breasts - though I was pretty sure the underwire of my bra was visible - and looked up to gauge Peter's reaction.

His breathing had quickened - mere surprise? I shifted slightly so I could see his face, finding what I hoped for. He _was_ taken aback, yes, but it wasn't only that making his eyes widen as they skimmed my exposed belly and his breath come harder and faster. He _wanted_ me. "I should've left you innocent and clueless - made my life easier."

"Yes, I think you should have." I worked my legs out from under him and apart, thrusting my body upward and rubbing against him. "But you didn't."

"Well, I'm not complaining."

Neither was I. It may not have been one of my major goals in life to master the art of being seductive, but it was still nice not to be stuck playing the blushing, self-conscious little girl all the time. And when Peter resumed kissing me, well, I definitely wasn't complaining then.

It was truly tragic that Claire picked that moment to holler up the stairs, " Peter! Bella! Food's ready!"

We froze. I could've run Claire over with my truck right then, but it was probably a good thing she'd interrupted us when she had; she would never have forgiven us if we'd done it on her bed. Still, I agreed wholeheartedly with Peter when he buried his face in my hair and whispered, "Damn."

**So... Was it terrible? Should I stick to violence if I feel like getting graphic? It actually comes easier to me for some reason. **

**Next chapter: Angela calls Bella with a new and unwelcome prediction for her future, Edward calls the Cullens' Alaskan friends, and a couple of characters we haven't heard from in a long time will make reappearances. **


	21. The Second Coming

**OK, a LOT happens in this chapter. So much that I considered breaking it down into 2 parts, but I was told to keep it long so here it is. I don't want to distract you, so I'll save the Really Big News for last. **

Chapter 21: The Second Coming

After Future Peter's departure - hopefully back to his own time - Angela took awhile to fall asleep again. This was mostly due to the fact that she wasn't certain Future Peter had actually gone back where he'd come from; for all she knew he could still be here, making who knew what alterations to the timeline. At least he couldn't possibly do anything worse than when he'd told Claire to stay at home, inadvertently leading her to become brain food for Sylar.

Eventually she did manage to sleep - and, of course, dream. She woke up knowing that Peter had indeed succeeded in changing the future. Something very different was set to happen now; however, the chances of it happening on its own were doubtful. Once in a while the future needed a little push to get on track. Angela Petrelli was quite willing to provide that push.

To this end, she dialed Peter's cell phone and asked to speak to Miss Swan. Peter asked her to hold on a second; Angela hoped he knew better than to try pretending his clumsy little paramour wasn't there. She heard a few muffled, indistinct words as he covered the phone's speaker with one hand and addressed someone else, and then a hesitant female voice said, "Hello, Mrs. Petrelli?"

"Hello, Isabella. I understand last night was pretty rough for you."

"Yes..." There was a soft sound of footsteps as Bella relocated to someplace more private. "Mrs. Petrelli, I have to ask-" Bella hesitated.

"Yes, dear?"

"Does last night have anything to do with why you said I should stay away from Peter? Because you knew that I was supposed to...you know..."

"Precisely. Your death would have made Peter unhappy for the rest of his life. I know I may have seemed cruel at the time, but trust me, if he had to lose you either way it would've been easier for him to believe you simply didn't care for him anymore."

Bella's reply was unexpectedly sharp. "You're wrong. Rejection from someone you love never makes anything easier."

"Yes, well, it's all water under the bridge now, isn't it? Still, I owe you an apology. I hope our next meeting will be different."

"You're _apologizing_? Well...thanks, I guess. Um, if you don't mind me asking, why do you care about making up with me? I couldn't help getting the impression you don't like me very much."

"It was never personal, dear - I have nothing against _you_. Besides, the future's changed after last night. Both our lives will be more pleasant if we get along, given the new circumstances."

"What circumstances?" Bella asked apprehensively.

Angela smiled.

_Meanwhile, in Forks_

"What do you think Angela wanted to talk to Bella for?"

"I don't know, Claire."

"If she's still upset about us catalyzing that stupid formula, she should take it up with me. Or maybe it's something else - was it just me, or did anybody else feel like Angela didn't like Bella for some reason?"

Elle set her yogurt cup down and stuck her spoon in it, glancing slyly at Claire. "I dunno; why don't you go snatch the phone and ask her?"

"I don't think I need to do that - Bella can handle Angela, and if she can't she can always hang up on her. I just wondered-"

Claire didn't have long to wonder, because at that moment Bella stormed into the room, looking as if she could almost shoot laser beams from her eyes. "You," she growled at Peter, "have got some explaining to do."

"Um, okay?"

"Outside. _Now_."

"Okay," Peter said again. He followed her out, feeling somewhat apprehensive but mostly puzzled over what Angela had said this time and, more importantly, why Bella blamed _him_ for it. "What's the matter, Bella?"

"The matter," she snapped, "is that your mother just referred to me as her _future daughter-in-law_!"

Peter's immediate reaction was to question whether he'd heard correctly. If he had, then it implied one of two things: either the world had gone completely insane and Bella would somehow end up with Nathan (unlikely), or that she was going to marry...him. Yeah, that definitely seemed more in the realm of possibility, though not by much. Really, they'd never even considered it!

Meanwhile, Bella was still talking - ranting, actually. "...think agreeing to get _married_ would stick in my memory if I'd done it. Which I have _not_!" She paused to take a breath and finally noticed that Peter was just standing there, looking rather dazed. "_So_? I just found out from your _mother_ that we're supposedly getting married when I should've heard it from _you_. What have you got to say for yourself?"

"That I'm as surprised as you are. Trust me, if I'd planned this I would've just asked you."

Bella eyed him suspiciously. "So you had no idea when Angela asked to speak to me-?" Peter shook his head no. "And you weren't planning on...proposing?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh! Well, good. I'm glad to see you haven't totally lost your mind."

"Is losing my mind a prerequisite to asking you to marry me?"

"Well, yeah." Bella was now watching him curiously, her talent for reading him like a book coming into play. "You're not disappointed are you?"

Disappointed, Peter wasn't; he was in no more of a hurry to take this step than she was, and rather resented Angela shoving the idea on them just because it was what _she_ wanted to happen, or thought was best for them, or whatever the hell her motivation might be. He didn't see any reason for Bella to act like it was completely disgusting, though. And what exactly did her attitude mean for them? Although Peter didn't feel like their relationship needed legal documentation, the fact was that he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else - if he was ever going to marry anyone, he wanted it to be her. He'd thought she felt the same, but apparently not.

Bella looked horrified when he told her this. "You've got it all wrong, Peter! I want to be with you forever. The thing is, in my mind marriage and forever don't necessarily go together, certainly not when I'm only eighteen. That was how old Charlie and Renee were when they got married, and look how that turned out - they rushed into things and it ended up destroying their whole relationship! And didn't _your_ parents' marriage end in attempted murder?"

"Okay, I see your point. I don't want you feeling like you have to poison me to get away or something."

"That isn't funny," Bella scolded, swatting him on the arm. "I could never feel trapped with you - you know that, don't you? What we have is the most important part of my life - way too important to risk for the sake of some silly societal convention or somebody else's expectations. Besides," she reluctantly added, "I'm not saying _never_; I'm just saying _not now_. Angela can see things from the really distant future, can't she?"

Not being sure on the exact scope of his mother's ability, Peter merely shrugged. "I guess so. Just because she's a precog doesn't make her right about everything either - some of her visions have never been more than dreams, and there've probably been some things she never saw coming."

_The Cullens' house, two days later_

Edward picked up his cell phone, dialed - then put it down without making the call. For the seventh time. _Just do it, you coward! _He snatched up the phone again, dialed rapidly, and placed the call before he could chicken out an eighth time.

Tanya picked up on the first ring. "Hi, Edward."

"Hello."

"What's up?"

"I just wondered...whether Irina has had any luck finding Laurent?"

"No, she hasn't," Tanya said with a sigh.

"Carlisle's advice about looking in Forks didn't pan out, then?" Edward didn't know why he bothered asking; even if Irina had gone to Forks, she wouldn't have known to look for Bella's grave and wouldn't have visited it if she had. It was just that, because Bella had lived there and it was where they had been together, Forks was still the only place Edward thought of as home. If Irina had been there, Edward wanted to know about it - wanted to hear that the dreary little town had been somehow altered by Bella's death, that it had affected more than just him.

But, "I'm afraid not. We all went with her, and..." Tanya paused, frowning in confusion. Vampires had flawless memories, but the trip to Forks was strangely fuzzy. Why had the whole coven gone, anyway? They'd had no reason for going besides Carlisle's tip; Irina could've followed up on that suggestion by herself, couldn't she? _She's our sister, and she's really upset over Laurent being gone this long. Of course we all wanted to help her search for him, _she rationalized.

"Tanya?" Edward asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, as I was saying, we all went. There's absolutely nothing useful in Forks."

At that moment, Edward's phone was taken out of his hand. "Hey Tanya, it's Alice," chirped the girl who resembled a pixie more than a vampire. "Sorry, but Edward has to go now. Bye!" She hung up.

"Alice!"

Alice fixed her brother with a stern (and completely unrepentant) glare. "Edward, it's almost time for your therapist's appointment."

He groaned. "I don't want to see that idiot again, Alice. She's no help at all."

"What d'you want - for her to bring Bella back? Nobody can do that, Edward. You agreed to do this and try to move on, and we expect you to keep your word. Just think how Carlisle and Esme will feel if you don't."

###

Reminding Edward how much his depression hurt his family successfully got him out of his funk and out the door, and he arrived in Dr. Holly Burke's waiting room a full ten minutes ahead of time. Unfortunately, Dr. Burke was running late instead of early for once, meaning Edward actually had to use the waiting room for its intended purpose: waiting.

This minor inconvenience alone wouldn't have been enough to put him in a bad mood, but he had some unwanted company as well. He'd never seen the man here before; a quick scan of the stranger's mind revealed that he was a regular patient, though he normally saw Dr. Burke earlier in the day. Why he had traded his usual morning appointment for one in the early evening Edward neither knew nor cared. The only thing he did care about - that bothered him, in fact - was that the strange man kept staring his way.

He pretended not to feel the man's dark eyes on him for five minutes, then snapped. "Can I help you?" he asked sharply.

The man was appropriately chagrined. "I'm sorry, I was just looking at your watch."

"Yes, Dr. Burke is running late." Edward turned his watch so the other man could more easily read it.

"I don't need the time," he said somewhat awkwardly. "It's just...your watch."

"I beg your pardon?" The watch was nothing special, and Edward was beginning to suspect that this man might need therapy more than he did - that he might be an actual nut. "What about my watch?"

"It's three seconds fast. I can fix it for you, if you like; I'm pretty familiar with that brand."

Edward hadn't noticed this watch _had_ a brand name, but when he checked there it was, printed in black on the miniature clock's face. "Sylar?"

_Outside the Swans' house, same night_

_BPOV_

"Bye, see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Peter should be home from work by now; I'll tell him you said hi."

"Thanks." Gathering my cover-up, bag of sunscreens, and towel - making sure the latter wasn't trailing on the ground where I could trip over it - I hopped out of Claire's car. She, Elle, and I had spent the day at the beach, taking advantage of the rare warm weather. Temperatures in Forks would probably start dropping all too soon - say, around late July - but even the thought of autumn's early arrival couldn't dampen my spirits. By the time it got really cold, I wouldn't be living here anymore.

A slight shiver of anticipation shot down my spine as I realized that my time in Forks was drawing to a close. In just a few more weeks Claire and I would be leaving for college. In just a few weeks I would be living full-time with her and Elle...and Peter. As I traipsed upstairs to deposit my things in my room and then down the hall to the bathroom, I wondered idly whether our plans for this fall had any bearing on Angela's prediction, which had remained stubbornly in the back of my mind. After all, I'd never known a precog to be wrong before - their visions always came true in one way or another. And Angela said she'd seen me marrying Peter...

As I lathered my favorite strawberry-scented shampoo into my hair, I became aware that my tuneless humming had somehow morphed into a wedding march, though I made it sound more like a dirge. _Ugh! _I turned the hot water to cold and purposely stuck my face right under it.

###

"Bells, can you come down here?"

"Be there in a sec!" I shed my towel and pulled on my sweats, fumbling in my haste and hoping that the pasta I'd put on the stove before taking my shower wasn't burning. Charlie would be no help at all if it was, and I really didn't want to have to start dinner all over again...

The pasta was fine. "Dad, why'd you call me?" I turned away from the stove - and my heart stopped. It wasn't Charlie standing behind me. "You? You can't be here - you're dead!"

Arthur Petrelli moved closer, trapping me between himself and the cabinets, smiling the cold, dangerous smile that had haunted my nightmares for weeks after my return from Pinehearst. "Hello again, Miss Swan."

**WHAT? You didn't really think a little explosion would be enough to kill Arthur Petrelli, did you? And Sylar found his way back into the story during one of my brainstorming sessions - I'm still not sure how. Snap. **

**Now for the Really Big News: this is the last chapter of Resilience, and it's actually one more than I'd expected since I thought there would only be 20 chapters maximum. This storyline will conclude (for real this time) in Revenant, coming soon to a computer screen near you. Till then, thanks for reading! **


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